Say You'll Never Let Me Go
by LemonStar
Summary: ..Daryl/Beth.. A follow-up to "Catch Me" in which Daryl makes a new friend, Daryl and Beth are trying to get pregnant and Matty's not sure if he wants to play football anymore.
1. Chapter 1

**A short follow-up to _Catch Me_ that will probably be around five chapters and will take turns with POV.**

* * *

...

 **Part One.**

"Which one's yours?"

Daryl turns his head away from having been watching the practice on the field to look at the man standing next to him. For a second, he's not sure that he's talking to him since the man's own eyes are still set to the field but there's no one else around them for the question to be asked to. Most of the other parents there are on the other side of the field, on the parking lot side, some getting things ready for when practice ends and the kids can get something to eat and others watching the practice like Daryl.

Daryl jerks his chin towards the field. "#22. Matty," he answers, watching as Coach T blows his whistle and starts yelling at the kids for not running the play right for the fourth time in a row.

"Damn. Heard about that kid even in our other league," the man replies.

"Which one's yours?" Daryl asks, trying to be polite though all of the parents know that Daryl Dixon's not one for small talk and when it comes to watching the practices, he likes to do it on his own. Even his wife, Beth, doesn't stand near him.

"#7. Henry. We were up in Cherokee County but we moved here this summer for work," the man continues talking. "We had to make sure there was football though. We couldn't even think about moving here if they didn't have football." He chuckles at that and then glances back to Daryl again. "But your kid's getting famous for his age. Where does he get it from? You or your wife?"

"Definitely not me," Daryl smirks a little at that with a shake of his head and he watches as Coach Tyreese bends down in front of Matty to talk with him. "Not my wife much either. Her brother though, Matty's uncle, was into football. 's one of the coaches now."

Daryl's actually surprised himself by saying so much at one time to this stranger.

"Henry doesn't really take after myself or my husband. I played baseball but never football and Eric is a bit of a klutz by his own admission," the man smiles.

Daryl looks at him. Can't really help it. It's not a big deal. Not to him anyway. He's just actually never met a gay man before. Especially in their little town where there are none. And he must have been looking at him for longer than he meant because the man then smiles a little at him and Daryl snaps himself out of it.

"Sorry," Daryl mumbles but he just smiles and shrugs and Daryl wonders how used this guy is to people looking at him as if he has horns. "Didn' mean to…" he trails off when the man chuckles and shrugs again. "How you like it 'round here so far?" He asks.

"We came from a town with about two hundred people so this is a big city to us," he smiles. "I work from home and Eric did have a job but he was feeling unsatisfied so he quit and was able to find something else. I told him we're too young for mid-life crises like that but it seemed to work out for the best. What about you? Do you like it?"

"Lived here for a long time," Daryl gives his head a nod. "Like it well enough. Quiet and small and 's a good place."

It's more than that. This is the town where he has a good job – managing Martinez's auto garage for him – and he has a wife, Beth, and she has her cupcake shop, and he has a son, Matty, who is nine-years-old and is already having high schools come and watch him on Saturdays during his football games. His family and friends are here. It's not just a good place. He would have never thought it but this little town is the best place in the world. He knows not everyone will think the same. Who knows if this guy and his husband and kid will even like it?

"Tavon! You have to nail this pitch! If you can't pitch it to Sammy, the play is over and what are you going to do?" T-Dog is yelling at the quarterback, holding the front of the boy's facemask so he has to look at him. "They are all expecting you to hand the ball off to Matty and they are going to be so far up that kid's ass, you won't even be able to _think_ about handing him the ball! You need to get it to Sammy if you want to see points up on that board! Now, tell me what you don't understand about that?"

Daryl finds Beth across the field as she helps some of the other moms set up the cups for water and he can see her frowning to herself, not surprised to see her doing so. She has never been comfortable with the way the coaches sometimes yell at the boys.

"He's intense," the man comments and Daryl realizes he still doesn't know his name.

"T's good," Daryl says and he realizes he still doesn't know this guy's name.

And then, as if he can read Daryl's mind, and has realized that, too, himself, he turns towards Daryl and holds out his hand. "Aaron Raleigh," he says.

"Daryl Dixon," Daryl returns and shakes his hand.

"Tavon!" T-Dog blows his whistle again. "You see that tree? You run to that tree and back until I tell you to stop! Maybe it will help get your memory working. And Matty, you keep glaring at me like that, you can join him!" He blows his whistle again and the two boys begin to run off, side by side.

Daryl looks to Beth again from across the field and he's pretty sure he can see smoke coming out of her ears. Beth then turns her head and seems to instantly find Daryl's eyes and he watches as she walks around the entire practice field, coming to his side, and she seems to be completely unaware of Aaron standing there for the moment.

"What is his problem today?" Beth asks as if Daryl has any insight into T-Dog's mind.

Daryl shrugs. "Jus' tryin' to teach the boys discipline…" he then says as if he has any idea what the hell he's talking about but he figures that's what's going on.

He watches Matty as the boy runs side by side with his best friend. Matty's the fastest runner on the team – damned near one of the fastest runners in the whole county, probably – but he doesn't leave Tavon's side. Not that Tavon is a snail but Matty can run laps around any of these kids. Doesn't mean he will though.

"Maybe T's jus' tryin' to distract Tavon from everythin' that's goin' on," Daryl then suggests, turning his head back towards Beth.

She's been watching the boys, too, and she looks to Daryl. She sighs softly. "Maybe…" she agrees though it seems like she's still unsure and not at all happy with the harshness the team's head coach is expressing to the boys today.

She then notices Aaron standing there and her mood does a complete one-eighty. She bursts into a smile. "Hi!" She greets cheerfully like she does everyone. "I'm Beth Dixon."

Aaron smiles. "Hi. Aaron Raleigh. My son just joined the Gators this year," he says.

"Oh, you're Henry's dad," Beth keeps smiling. "He's a really good corner-back."

"Thank you. Your husband and I were just talking. We don't know where the kids get it from," Aaron chuckles a little.

"Definitely not me," Beth smiles wider, shaking her head, her eyes drifting back to watch Matty. "But I'm glad he has it. It makes him happy."

T-Dog blows his whistle. "Tavon! Matty! I said run! Not take a stroll!" He blows his whistle again and both boys abandon their jogs to start running at a faster speed.

Beth sighs heavily and stands beside Daryl, her arms crossed over her chest and her lips pursed together. He knows she won't complain to any of the coaches about this – not even to her brother. Parents who complain to the coaches – either about their boys getting yelled at or their boys not getting enough play time during the games – usually get their sons yelled at more because of it. Not to mention that the boys on the team are all now at that age where they're starting to get embarrassed by their parents and Beth would never want to embarrass Matty.

"Michonne's here," Beth says then and Daryl looks across the field to see Michonne, Tavon's mom, walking from the parking lot with her youngest son in her arms.

Without another word, Beth stands on her toes and kisses Daryl's cheek before hurrying away, walking back around the field towards their friend. Daryl watches Michonne for a moment and Beth approaching her and the two women talk with one another away from the others. Michonne has recently just left her husband and she and the two boys have moved in with her mother. Beth offered them a place immediately but Michonne had assured her that they'd be alright with her mom. Besides, they have just bought a house and should get the chance to settle into it before having house guests stay over.

T-Dog has resumed yelling at another player and Matty and Tavon are still running, not having been told to stop yet.

"Is it always like this?" Aaron asks from beside him with a slight frown on his face.

"Not always," Daryl answers truthfully. "Sometimes, it's just football."

Aaron nods but doesn't comment further, his eyes still watching sharply and not looking away from the field, and Daryl doesn't say anything else either. It does take a while to get used to – to watch your kid getting yelled at even though they're just eight and nine year old boys and it's just football and not life. And most of the time, Daryl knows he's actually still not used to it.

…

After practice, Matty is on the verge of tears, he's soaked with sweat and he has a nasty cramp in his side because even though he loves running, even he has to stop eventually. Daryl gets him a bottle of water from the table and he and Beth walk him away from the others. He's panting heavily, trying to catch his breath, and Beth helps him take off his practice pads and Daryl pours some of the water over the boy's head and back of the neck before handing him the bottle and Matty chugs the rest of the water down.

"Are you having fun?" Beth asks as she gently runs a towel over his head.

She asks him this from time to time because she's always said that if Matty ever answers with anything other than a yes, they'll stop. Just like that, they'll walk away from the team and playing for the season because it's just football. It's supposed to be fun. And Daryl agrees with her. Everyone else is already talking about high school and universities and drafts into the NFL but he and Beth only care about what Matty really wants to do and the decision is entirely up to him. Because if Matty burns out at nine or winds up hating the sport, what the hell's the point of planning this kid's future around it?

For the first time, Matty doesn't say yes. He's still out of breath, trying to catch it, and he closes his eyes as Beth gently rubs the towel over his sweaty face. But he doesn't say no either. He actually doesn't give her question any answer and Beth and Daryl look at one another over the top of his head, wondering exactly what that means.

…

They moved out of their apartment a couple of months earlier and bought a little blue house on a quiet street with quiet neighbors. Beth had sat down and figured out that they would be paying as much in a mortgage as much as they pay now in rent and it was time to move out of the apartment into their very own house.

The house is small but it's still more room than they've had. The kitchen is bigger – which is a plus for Beth – Matty is excited to have a bedroom _upstairs_ , the backyard is fenced in so Otter, their pit bull, has plenty of room to run around in and Daryl has a garage where he can do all of his own projects when he's not at work.

When they get home, Otter is barking, excited to have them home again but Matty barely pets him before he's trudging upstairs to get himself cleaned up before dinner. Otter almost follows him up the stairs but Daryl calls his name and the dog comes, obediently going out the backdoor into the back yard. Beth is at the sink, where she had put a few chicken breasts in there this morning to defrost for dinner, and she now gathers the eggs, flour, and container of breadcrumbs.

Daryl stands at the back door for a moment, looking at her, not too sure what to say. He and Beth have been married for a while now and he's been Matty's dad for a while, too, but he still sometimes feels like he has no right to say anything when it comes to certain things even though he knows this is as much his family as theirs. He's just worried about saying the completely wrong thing and pissing Beth off. After all, she's the one who actually made him and gave birth to him and when it comes to Matty, Daryl admits that he usually just follows her lead.

She goes to preheat the oven and she must feel his eyes on her because she looks at him. "Do you mind going in the garden and getting some green beans to have tonight? I think we probably have just another couple of more harvests before they die."

"Yeah," Daryl nods and is silently relieved to have something to do. He goes into the backyard, seeing Otter sniffing at a spot in the fence where a squirrel had probably been, and he goes to the vegetable garden they have growing in the back corner of their yard, surrounded by chicken wire to keep the wild animals – and Otter – out.

Otter starts barking and Daryl looks to see that there is a squirrel in the sycamore tree planted in their backyard, clearly taunting the dog.

Over the summer, they had planted tomatoes, green beans and radishes and had gotten plenty of the vegetables from each plant and they are already planning as to what they'll plant next spring. Daryl likes being able to take care of himself for some things without having to rely on a store for everything.

He hears the back screen door open and then slap shut and he lifts his head, seeing Beth cutting across the grass towards him. He straightens and waits for her to reach him, she obviously wanting to talk with him or else, she would have waited until he got back into the house. She steps into the garden and closes the little gate behind her.

"Our baby is not allowed to be an athlete of any kind," Beth informs him. "Either they'll bake or fix cars and that's it."

Daryl smirks a little at that. "Not too sure that's up to us."

Beth sighs and without another word, she comes to him and slips her arms around his waist, turning her head and resting it against his chest, her ear over his heart. Daryl holds the small plastic bin with green beans in one hand and his other arm wraps around her shoulders, holding her close.

He drops his lips down to the top of her head and rests them there and he stands there, holding her and letting her hold him.

They've been trying. Ever since they got married, they've been trying. She wants another baby and he knows he's ready for one, too. And he's going to try his hardest to not wonder why it hasn't happened yet. Beth obviously has no problem getting pregnant. Maybe it's him. Maybe something's wrong with him because it's not like they aren't trying. He's pretty sure they're trying as much as they possibly can.

But it just hasn't happened yet.

But Daryl isn't going to wonder why not or worry about it because Beth doesn't seem worried and he knows she believes in everything happening when it's supposed to so probably, in her mind, she's not worried because they're just not meant to have a baby yet. Daryl will admit to himself that he's getting a little impatient for it to happen. It's not like he's getting any younger and he wants a baby with Beth a lot. _A lot_. Probably more than anything, to be honest.

They finally break apart and head back into the house, Otter on their heels, and Matty is in the kitchen now – his blond curls damp from the shower he has just taken – sitting at the kitchen table, one of his notebooks for school opened in front of him. Otter trots over to him and nudges his leg with his snout and Matty absently rubs him behind his torn ear with one hand as he continues writing with his other.

"Dinner will be ready in a few minutes," Beth tells them both. "Matty, do you want to drink milk or apple juice tonight?"

"Apple juice," Matty answers without lifting his head from his notebook. He writes for another moment and then looks up as Daryl begins setting plates on the table and Beth is standing at the counter, cutting the ends off the green beans and tossing them into water to steam. "Can I call Grandpa?"

"Of course, sweetie," Beth answers. "You don't have to ask that."

Matty gets up from the table and steps up on the stool that's beneath the old fashioned rotary phone that hangs on the wall. Daryl pretends that he isn't listening as he goes into the small room laundry off of the kitchen to get Otter some dry kibble for dinner.

"Hi, Grandpa," Matty says. "It's Matty," he then says as if Hershel Greene wouldn't be able to guess that for himself. "If God makes you really good at something but you don't know if you want to do it, are you going to make God angry?"

Daryl looks at Beth as she stands at the counter, seeing that she has gone completely still, her eyes frozen on Matty.

The oven beeps but Beth still doesn't move and Daryl goes to take the chicken out before it can burn. Matty talks for a few more minutes and then hangs the phone up, hopping off the stool and heading back towards the table.

Beth serves them the green beans and Daryl serves them each pieces of chicken and he then goes to get the jug of apple juice from the refrigerator for both Matty and himself. They all sit at the table and Beth says grace and they all then begin eating. Daryl watches Beth as she continuously looks at Matty and hardly eats any of her dinner. Matty doesn't seem to notice though and if he does notice, he's acting like he has no idea.

Daryl takes a sip of apple juice from his glass and then clears his throat. "Matty," he says the boy's name and Matty instantly looks to him. Daryl takes a deep breath. "Do you think you wanna keep playin' football?" He then asks what Beth can't seem to be able to at the moment.

And Matty doesn't answer right away; as if he's really thinking it through. He then shrugs. "I don't know," he then says in a quiet voice. "I know every practice can't be fun but today, it _really_ wasn't fun."

"Baby, you do not have to play if you do not want to," Beth speaks up. "You know that."

Matty nods and is quiet as he cuts a piece of chicken. "I'm going to think about it," he then says in a soft voice but the words drop like rocks down on the table and they're all quiet for a few passing minutes.

"So," Beth breaks the silence. "I've been working on my new carrot whoopee cupcake to take to Merle on Sunday. Are you sure he likes carrots?" Beth asks Daryl and he's glad that she knows what to say to completely switch the subject.

Daryl smirks a little. "Pretty sure Merle'll eat anything if it's not rocks or still movin'."

…

She has a thing for his arms. It's not a secret to him. He doesn't really understand it but whatever works for her. She's always finding a way to grip them – whether he's on top or she is, her fingers will find a way around his biceps and she'll hold onto him as if she'll afraid to let go and have him completely disappear.

Even though Matty is a deep sleeper, they still always try their hardest to keep quiet but sometimes, a low moan or a sharp gasp will escape from one of them before they can swallow it down. They know they can probably be a little louder but they never test it out. When Matty is having a sleepover at Tavon's or he's staying at the farm for the night, they both know that they can let it out but no other time.

Daryl makes sure he always takes care of Beth before he's able to finish himself and tonight, on top of her, he kisses her deeply and dives his hand between their bodies, between her legs, and she moans into his mouth, her back arching from off the bed and her fingers gripping his biceps tightly.

In the seconds after, they lay there, sweaty and panting and he's always so worried about crushing her but the times he has tried to move off of her, Beth always stops him, wrapping her arms or legs – or sometimes both – around him and keeping him right where he is until he's reached the point where he doesn't try anymore.

She presses a series of soft kisses along his scratchy jaw and her fingers run through his hair. It's getting long again and he's noticed that she loves sifting her fingers through it. Maybe he won't cut it just because of that. Maybe he'll just get it trimmed.

He buries his face in the side of her throat, taking a deep inhale of her skin. Chocolate and buttercream are her usual scents and they're mixed in now with sweat and sex. She's the best thing he's ever smelled. He takes another big whiff of her.

Daryl doesn't know if they made a baby tonight. All he can really do is hope they did.

Beth's fingers are light on his back, skimming over all of the scars that litter his skin, but he's stopped flinching so long ago at her touch and can hardly remember when he did.

"Do you think you can get a deer?" Beth asks suddenly and pretty damn randomly.

Daryl doesn't say anything. He just lifts his head and looks at her. She smiles, almost laughs, and shakes her head slightly.

"I was thinking that if you can get us a deer, we can have people over. A housewarming party kind of thing," she explains.

"Mmmm," Daryl replies, noncommittally, not really liking the idea of entertaining some party but knowing that it probably comes with having bought a new house.

She knows he'll do it if that's what she wants. He'll do pretty much anything for this woman and he knows that Beth probably knows that but she probably doesn't know just what _anything_ means. And it means absolutely anything. This little woman has him completely under her thumb and he's not looking to be under anyone else's because the thing with Beth is she would never think she has any control over him and even if she does know, she would never think of taking advantage of that. Beth wouldn't know how to take advantage of a person if someone said her life depended on it.

"When you wan' it by?" Daryl asks and he slowly slides from on top of her, lying down on his front, keeping some of his body still over hers, his arm resting across her stomach, and he keeps his head turned towards her as Beth turns her head towards him. Her fingers are now trailing up and down his arm.

"Maybe for this coming Sunday," Beth suggests. "Anyone you would want to invite?"

Daryl thinks that over for a second. He assumes she'll be inviting their family and their friends but he thinks of someone else. "The new kid on the team. Henry. Maybe him and his dads."

Beth smiles at that. "Aaron did seem really nice. I didn't know he had a husband," she then comments.

Daryl smirks a little and moves to rest his head on her shoulder. "Don't think they go 'round, tattooin' it on their foreheads."

Beth playfully pinches his arm and he chuckles softly, his eyes slowly falling shut, listening to the sound of her soft breathing, feeling her fingers once again on his arm. He can't remember ever sleeping as good as he does now; not until he started sleeping next to and sharing a bed with Beth.

But she sighs softly and he opens his eyes again, tilting his face up towards her. She doesn't have to say anything. He can pretty much read her mind – especially about this.

"You always said he can quit whenever he wants," he reminds her.

"I know," Beth sighs again. "I just want him to make sure it's what he _really_ wants because I know how much he loves it and I know how happy it makes him to play and he's _so_ good at it. I just don't want him to quit because practice was terrible today. And I _hate_ that practice was so terrible today."

Daryl's not too sure what to say to that so he doesn't say anything. If he's being honest, sometimes, he just likes to listen to her being a mom. She loves that kid more than anything and everything is about him. He knows Matty doesn't know how lucky he is. That kid doesn't know what it'd be like to have a mom who _doesn't_ love him and make him her entire world. All that kid's known is Beth being there for him and thinking about him and staying up at night because of him.

"Matty's a smart kid," Daryl says after another minute. "He'll make whatever's the right choice for 'im." He settles his head back against her shoulder and closes his eyes once more. "He's the only one to know whether he wants to keep playin' or not."

Beth's quiet and he is almost drifting off to sleep when he feels her arms tighten around him and her lips brush across his forehead.

"And you think you're not good at this parent stuff," she murmurs to him softly and he can hear the faint smile in her voice.

…

Martinez makes him the manager of the garage after talking with his wife and realizing that he needs to spend more time at home with her and the kids. For Martinez, it is an easy decision to make. Daryl is his close friend and the best mechanic he has and he's also pretty confident that Daryl is the most responsible guy there is – even more responsible than him, in Martinez's opinion.

The garage is open Monday through Saturday but Daryl is never scheduled to work on Saturdays – at least not during football season – so Friday is always a bit more busy for him, trying to finish up all of his work before the weekends. Sometimes, after school, the bus will drop Matty off at Beth's cupcake shop and he'll help her clean up before they go home and he starts on his homework and getting ready for practice as Beth gets a start on dinner. And sometimes, Matty will get off the bus at the auto garage and help Daryl clean up there before going home with him.

Today, the bus drops Matty off at the garage and he comes into the front office where Daryl is typing up a receipt on the computer for a customer who's standing at the counter, ready to pay.

"Hey," Daryl looks up when he sees him enter. "How was school?"

Matty shrugs, coming around the counter and climbing up to sit on the stool there as Daryl stands beside him. He drops his book bag heavily to the ground. "Tavon's mad at me," he says.

Daryl prints the receipt and then processes the customer's credit card, thanking them for coming in, and only when they leave the office does he turn to Matty and speak.

"Best friends fight," Daryl offers.

Matty shakes his head though. "Nah. He's really mad at me. I told him that I might take a break from the team for a while and he said it's gonna be all my fault when they lose."

"Would think it'd be their fault for puttin' all of that on you," Daryl says and that really is the problem when it all comes down to it.

He didn't know shit about football before meeting Beth and Matty and becoming involved with their lives but now he can watch the games and understand what's going on and the offense for the Gators team is seriously flawed because almost the entire damn thing relies on Matty. The kid can run – fast – and they use that to their advantage in nearly every single play. And having an entire team rest on their shoulders would take their toll on an adult, let alone a nine-year-old.

Matty nods and doesn't say anything and Daryl puts a hand on his head for a moment. He then leans in and kisses him on the top before another customer comes in, ready to pay, and he wonders how dinner will go. Beth has invited T-Dog and her brother, Shawn, over so they can all discuss Matty's decision to take a step back for a while. Actually, it's not going to be much of a discussion because it won't matter what T-Dog and Shawn say. This is the way it's going to be for a while. The kid's burned out and he just needs the chance to rest up and the Gators coaches need a chance to think of some new damn plays that don't always surround his kid.

If they don't have to worry about a football game tomorrow, maybe Matty will come hunting with him and help him bag a deer for Beth.

…

* * *

 **Thank you very much for reading and please review!  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Matty's POV will be the next chapter.**

* * *

…

 **Part Two.**

Beth doesn't know why she's so nervous. She has absolutely no reason to be nervous. It's just her brother and Coach Douglas coming over for dinner and they have all shared more than a few meals together. Tonight, it will be no different, and she tells herself this again and again as she moves around the kitchen even though she knows perfectly well that it will be very different.

A couple of years before – when Matty got hurt for the first time on the field during a game – she had wanted to pull him from the sport right then and there. And then he had been hospitalized for a minor concussion and she had hoped she would never see her son in football pads again. But Matty's always gone back because he loves playing and Beth wants him to be happy – even though she still can hardly watch him getting tackled without turning her head and burying her face in Daryl's arm.

But lately, she's noticed that Matty hardly smiles anymore – not when he has to go to practice or when practice is over or on game days when they win. Not like he used to. And as his mother, it's something she's noticed almost immediately because when it comes to Matty, football has always made him smile like few other things can.

When Matty told her and Daryl the night before that he was ready to take a break, they were both understandably surprised because even though he seemed tired, she never excepted him to actually be willing to give it up for a while. But then, deep down, Beth also felt relief at the decision. Matty's only nine and she feels like everyone involved in this football organization forgets that. These boys are all just that. _Boys_. Kids. Practically still babies. And they need to enjoy their childhood because they only get one of them. If he wants to quit altogether or go back and just take a couple of weeks off, Beth will support him no matter what. Matty loves playing football and she hates the idea of that love dying. But that's exactly what playing for the Gators is doing and Beth is so proud that Matty is able to see that and make a decision like this on his own.

It makes her think like maybe she's doing a pretty okay job at raising him.

Beth hears the rumble of the familiar pickup truck and then the garage door opening. Otter is in the laundry room, standing in front of the door, his tail wagging in anticipation. Matty opens the door first and steps into the laundry room from the garage and he smiles as Otter eagerly jumps all over him, excited to have his best friend home again after being gone at school all day. Daryl comes in behind him, hitting the garage door button, closing it once more, and then closing the laundry room door.

Daryl wears a backwards baseball cap on his head and his dark blue Martinez Auto Garage tee-shirt, the familiar scent of oil and grease wafting from him. And Matty is wearing a plain black tee-shirt and though she saw what he was wearing this morning before he went off to school, Beth still thinks it's a bit jarring to see once again. Usually, on Fridays, the boys will wear the tee-shirts of whichever team they play for.

"Hi," Beth greets them both with a smile. She kisses Matty on the head and then tilts her head up to kiss Daryl on the lips. "How was school? How was work?" She asks them.

"Fine," they both answer at the same time and Beth almost laughs.

He may have not had a hand in actually helping her make Matty but Daryl is this boy's dad in every sense of the word.

"Smells real good in here," Daryl then comments and he leans in, kissing the side of her head, and it seems like it should be so silly; the way this man can still give her butterflies but he does and it's not.

"Beef stroganoff and fresh bread," Beth says, going to the oven now to check on the rising on the loaf inside. "And Uncle Shawn and Coach Douglas are going to be coming here around five." She then looks back to Matty and he seems like he's fine but still, she has to make sure. "Do you want to do the talking tonight?" She asks him.

Matty is putting fresh water into Otter's water dish on the floor and he nods. "It should be me," he says and that's all he says before bending down and peering in through the oven window to look at the bread baking for himself. He then turns and looks back to Beth. "Do we have any dessert?" He asks with that mischievous smile that reminds everyone just how young he really is.

And for a moment, Beth thinks about the baby she and Daryl are trying to make. She wonders if it will be a boy or girl and if they'll have hers and Matty's blond curls or Daryl's dark hair. If they have a boy, she already has names picked out and she wonders how they'll decide on a name if they have a daughter.

"I might have made butterscotch pudding on the stove earlier," Beth smiles and then laughs a little as Matty gasps, his eyes lighting up at that news.

"Come on, Otter," Matty then says to the dog and grabbing a tennis ball from the basket on the floor net to the backdoor where they keep Otter's leash and his toys, Matty opens the back door and goes outside with Otter trotting happily behind him.

"I ain't never had puddin' from the stove before," Daryl comments once it's just them in the kitchen. He has gotten himself a glass of water and is now leaning against the sink.

"You mean in all of the years we've known each other, I've never made it for you?" Beth asks and tries to go through all of her memories with Daryl but the truth is, they have shared so many meals together, she can't possibly remember them all. "I hope you like it. And I hope Shawn likes it, too. He absolutely loves pudding made on the stove."

Daryl smirks a little at that and takes a sip of water. "So you're tryin' to butter 'im up?"

Beth wants to smile but she can't seem to because the truth is, and no matter what she tells herself, she _is_ nervous about dinner tonight. "I'm just worried about what Shawn will say to me about this," she then confesses honestly to Daryl.

Her brother played football himself, loves football and has told her more than once that Matty is going to go far in this life, playing football. She can envision her brother blaming her for Matty's decision to not play at the moment and possibly accuse her of trying to hold the boy back.

Daryl looks at her for a moment and his lips are straight and his face is serious. "I ain't gonna let 'im say anythin' to you," he then tells her.

Beth exhales a deep breath and nods her head but there's still a knot in the pit of her stomach – even as Daryl puts his water glass down and pulls her into his arms, holding her to him tightly.

…

Matty's the one to tell them. They are sitting at the table in the dining room – the five of them – and they have all said grace and are just starting to eat when Matty tells them in that rather blunt way that children speak in, unaware of just how big of announcement something truly is.

"I'm not playing tomorrow and I don't know when I'll play again," Matty says.

T-Dog was just about to guide a piece of beef into his mouth but the fork freezes in the air right before being able to slip in past his lips and he stares at the boy sitting across the table from him. Shawn is staring at him, too, but then his eyes slowly go to Beth.

"Why?" Shawn asks – directing the question to Matty but still looking at Beth.

And Beth isn't a little girl anymore and she refuses to be intimidated by Shawn – not like when they were kids and a big brother was torturing his little sister. She's a mom and a wife and she's an adult and Shawn isn't going to bully her. She reminds herself of all of this and forces herself to look at her brother in return and not look anywhere else.

"I'm tired," Matty explains simply because when they boil it down, this is really what it is all about. They have been running him ragged and he's tired. Plain and simple.

"You're tired?" T-Dog echoes as if he's never heard such a thing.

Daryl takes the opportunity to speak up. "You run this kid and you don't run any other kid. Yeah. He's tired. Matty ain't the whole team."

Shawn's jaw is visibly clenched now and he looks from Beth to Daryl and back again.

T-Dog has put his fork down and bringing his elbows up onto the table, he folds his hands in front of him. "Is that true, Matty?" T-Dog asks the boy in a calm voice.

Matty nods. "I'm tired and sore and you're making me not love football anymore."

Shawn finally looks away from Beth and Daryl to look at his nephew. "That's because you're one the best players any of us have seen in a really long time, Matt."

Beth's not sure why but she almost flinches at that. Yes, it's his name. Matthew. Matt. Matty. They're all his name. And yet, just hearing him being called Matt, it's just another reminder that he's not her little Matty anymore. He's only nine and he's still a boy but he's growing up. He's making his own decisions and he knows what he wants and soon, he'll be too old to be Matty.

"We're pushing you more than anyone else because you have the talent to take you further than any of the others," Shawn says.

Matty just shakes his head. "I'm tired," he says for the third time with a frown.

"You think Walter Payton never got tired?" Shawn asks with a matching frown. "Hell, before Ditka came, that was a running back carrying an entire team. An _NFL_ team."

"But he's not Walter Payton and this isn't the NFL, Shawn," Beth almost snaps. "He is nine-years-old."

"And you keep treating like he's nine-months-old," Shawn snaps back. "Are you ever going to cut the cord and let this kid live a life that you're not hovering over?"

"Don't talk to her like that," Daryl says in a low voice, glaring at his brother-in-law.

It's quiet for a few minutes after that and the tension is thick over the table, the adults tense and Matty staring down at his plate of food, clearly not wanting to talk anymore.

T-Dog stands up then and they all look at him. "Matty, do you mind taking me out in the back and showing me how Otter plays catch? You've talked about it so much, I think it's time I see him in action."

Matty nods and without a word, he pushes himself away from the table and goes to the basket in the kitchen, grabbing the tennis ball, and both Otter and T-Dog follow him outside, the back door closing behind them.

Beth instantly glares at her brother. "You are such an asshole," she breathes at him. She rarely curses but right now, she feels like it's both appropriate and understandable.

"Why? Because I see that that kid has talent and I'm making sure it doesn't go to waste?" Shawn snaps at her.

"I am not wasting his talent!" Beth is almost yelling now. "He came to this decision all on his own after another practice run by his slave-drivers!"

She stands up even though she's hardly eaten a thing and carries her plate back into the kitchen. Morris is there, sitting up on the counter by the stove, and she normally will tell the black cat to get down but tonight, she could care less. She feels her heart pounding and her blood pumping in her ears. She can hear voices from the dining room – Daryl and Shawn and Shawn sounds calmer. Their voices are low, sounding like murmurs to her ears, and she can't make out exactly what they're saying to one another.

Thank God for Daryl. There's something about him where even when he's angry, it still seems so calm. Beth, meanwhile, has always been the sort to always show her emotions and she knew tonight, she would definitely get emotional.

She knows her brother loves her son and Shawn just wants the best for Matty and she doesn't deny that her son has a talent. He really does and Shawn wants to make sure Matty's talent only gets better. For the longest time, Shawn was the man male figure Matty had in his life and even with Daryl now as Matty's dad, Shawn still takes his role seriously and Beth loves him for that. But sometimes, Shawn straddles the line of caring uncle and tyrannical coach and tonight, the line is so blurred between the two, Beth's not sure which is angry over Matty's wish to stop playing football.

She hears steps behind her but she knows it's not Daryl. She knows his steps and when she turns away from the sink, she's right. It's Shawn and he actually looks apologetic. Beth wishes she knows what Daryl had said to him.

"I'm sorry, Bethy," Shawn says, looking genuinely apologetic. "I'm a dick."

She doesn't argue with him over that.

"I just see what that kid can do. He's nine, Beth, and he…"

"I know," she nods her head slightly and she does know and sees it, too.

She lifts her eyes when she sees Daryl leaning in the doorway between the kitchen and dining room and his face is blank and she's married to this man and no one else can like she can but even she sometimes has no idea how to read him.

So Beth gives him a small smile and Daryl's lips twitch in a small smile in return.

The back door opens just a couple of seconds later and Otter trots in, his tongue hanging out of his mouth, looking tired but content, and Matty comes in next, smiling, too, tossing the tennis ball into the air and catching it easily. And then T-Dog is behind him, smiling, too, in that grin that makes everyone want to smile, too.

"You wanna tell them?" T-Dog asks with a hand on Matty's shoulder.

Matty nods and he's still smiling. He looks right to Beth. "I'm going to play tomorrow."

Beth tries to keep smiling though she can't help but feel a little disappointed. "If that's what you want to do, Matty," she says and tries her best to sound supportive though she's wondering how much pressure T-Dog had just put on him to do this.

"I'm going to play tomorrow but then I'm going on a break for a few weeks," Matty continues. "I don't want to leave the team high and dry. I'll still go to practice and to games-"

"But just to watch," T-Dog finishes for him and then looks to Shawn. "And then you, me and Tyreese are going to sit down and start re-working our offense. Come up with some new plays."

Shawn nods in agreement and puts a hand on his nephew's head, shaking it back and forth playfully. "Sounds good," he smiles.

Beth smiles a little easier now. "Sounds great." She takes a deep breath. "So, who wants some pudding?"

…

She wants a baby. Really, really wants a baby. She really wants a baby with Daryl.

But every time they have sex, it's not just about making a baby. It's about being together and sharing this together because oh goodness, the sex is so good. So, so good. She had had no idea sex could be good like this until she had sex with Daryl for the first time. He had apologized beforehand, already thinking it was going to be nothing that would possibly take her breath away. But that's exactly what it did. And what it's done every time since.

He'll still apologize sometimes, gasping breathlessly into her ear if he feels he's cum too early, but Beth just smiles and wraps her arms around him and nuzzles his ear. He always makes up for it – as if he has anything to make up for. He'll use his mouth on her then and he never seems to care that he's cum inside of her just minutes later. He simply slips down her body and spreads her thighs and doesn't come up again until she cums and is on the verge of cumming a second time.

She always smiles at him as he comes back up her body and he smiles a little, too, and she then kisses him on the lips, tasting herself and him all mingled together on his lips.

They don't talk about it. She knows they are both very aware of what they are doing; what they are _trying_ to do. She knows he wants to be a dad and have a baby as much as she wants one. They have bought a little house with three bedrooms and right now, there isn't anything in the last room. They haven't even used it for storage for the time being, wanting to keep it empty and only fill it with things for their baby.

They're optimistic. There's no reason why they shouldn't be. They're both healthy and Beth prays and has faith. It will happen when it's supposed to. And she reminds Daryl of that because sometimes, she knows that he gets impatient.

"When are you getting my deer?" Beth asks as they lay there, him lying behind her, his arms wrapped around her and his face pressed to the back of her neck.

He snickers softly and she smiles. His arms squeeze around her. "Tomorrow. After the game," he promises her. "Maybe I'll take Matt with me if he wants to go."

Beth sighs softly and stares out the window beside their bed that she's facing. "You called him Matt," she says softly.

Daryl's quiet for a moment and she thinks like maybe he has fallen asleep but then his nose nuzzles into her hair. "He's growin' up. Know you don't like it but kid's makin' his own decisions and is startin' to realize what's good for him."

Beth is quiet at that. She knows it's the truth but that doesn't mean she has to like it. She always had her family, yes, but for a long time, it was just her and Matty. She was so determined to be the best mom in the world to him. She wanted him to look back and have only good memories of his childhood with her. She just wanted to be able to give him everything.

And she think she's done that. He's nine but he's already growing to be such a good young man and isn't that what every mom of a boy wants him to be?

She just can't imagine not calling him Matty anymore though. He'll always be her Matty.

…

Beth knows that it really doesn't make sense but it's the truth nonetheless. She and Amy are friends and Beth really likes her. Amy is a fun girl – a bit crazy and she likes her vodka but she loves to laugh and make others laugh and she loves being the center of attention. It could be a little awkward – after all, Amy and Daryl used to hook up – but that feels like it had been forever ago and it doesn't even matter anymore. Daryl and Beth are married and Daryl has adopted Matty, making him his official dad, and Amy and Shane Walsh, one of Daryl's closest friends, had gotten married just last month – catching everyone off guard but not really surprising anyone when they returned from a weekend to Atlantic City, both wearing matching wedding bands.

They have no plans to have a wedding redo – no matter how many times Rick likes to remind Shane that he was best man when he married Lori – but they have talked about having a reception with all of their friends. And Amy has declared that instead of a wedding cake, she wants cupcakes. Made by Beth, of course.

Unfortunately, on Sunday, it's raining so their housewarming party has to be kept inside. Otter doesn't do that well with too many people all in one space at the same time so he is spending the party in the garage. Everyone – their friends and family – is inside their house, socializing with one another and eating and complimenting Beth on the house. It's a little house – she knows – but it's what she and Daryl can afford and still live comfortably. They don't need to have a house with thousands of square feet and endless space. They don't need all of that. And she's so happy to show it off.

She has just met him but she's become such a fan of Eric Raleigh, Aaron's husband. As Daryl and Aaron went to the garage so Daryl could show Aaron his workbench after the man had expressed interest in it, Eric walked the rooms with Beth and told her what he thought about possible colors for the room and she definitely should not think about getting carpet because why would she ever want to cover up these floors? And he offers his help immediately with helping her decorate if she ever needs it.

Aaron and Eric seem very different. Eric is very forward and vocal and Aaron seems to be a bit more quiet and subdued, having no issues with letting his husband take the spotlight. They almost remind Beth of her and Daryl in some ways.

There's a football game on the television in the living room – of course – and that's where most of them have congregated but some have lingered in the dining room and kitchen. Daryl has gotten the deer – as promised – and has it grilled for that afternoon and Beth has the dining room table covered with salads and sides and of course, cupcakes, and everyone has been eating their fill.

Beth is in the kitchen, mixing up some more potato salad, and Amy is sitting at the little kitchen table the room is able to have and looking through one of Beth's cupcake books.

"Shane!" She suddenly shouts out. "Do you like lemon?"

"No!" Shane shouts back from the living room. "On what?" He then adds after a beat.

"I'm going to have Beth make lemon cupcakes!" Amy tells him.

There's another pause. "Fine!" He answers and Amy smiles triumphantly at Beth.

"Your lemon blueberry cupcakes you made that one time have always been my favorite," Amy tells her, closing the book with finality.

Beth smiles and she always feels so proud of herself when someone compliments one of the cupcakes she's made. Her shop sells six and blueberry lemon isn't one of the regular ones on rotation but she loves that people still remember ones she has made in the past and it seems as if everyone has their favorite.

"I think thirty-six will be a good number," Amy says as she stands up to put the book back on the shelf where Beth has all of her other cooking and baking books.

"Thirty-six all lemon blueberry?" Beth asks and Matty has entered the kitchen just as she's finishing up so she hands the bowl of potato salad to him to put on the dining room table and she then turns to wash her hands off in the sink.

"I think so. And if not everyone eats one, that's just more for me," Amy smiles.

Beth laughs a little as she goes to her desk that has been crammed in the corner to write a note to herself. "I'll make up a formal quote and get it over to you."

"Beth, what are these?" Lori asks, coming into the kitchen, holding a kabob.

"Green pepper and barbecue covered possum," Beth informs her with a smile. "It's an acquired taste. We boil it as long as we can but it can still be a bit greasy."

Lori has gone a little pale as she looks at the kabob in her hand. She had already eaten one and this is her second and now, Beth wonders if she's going to have a sick guest.

Lori visibly swallows and then pokes her head out of the kitchen, looking around the corner through the dining room into the living room. "Daryl Dixon, you can't serve possum at a house-warming party!" She scolds him.

Beth can hear Daryl standing up and a moment later, he comes into the kitchen, Lori turning back around to look at him. "Why not?" He asks and drops his empty beer can into the recycling bin they have next to the garbage can. "You ate it, didn' you?"

"It's _possum_ ," Lori frowns at him. "Vermin of the woods. Who knows what they eat?"

"Merle was able to catch a possum once. Alive," Daryl leans back against the counter next to Beth. "Fed it nothin' but peaches for a week 'fore killing it. Cleaned its system out and you ain't tasted nothin' like a peach-fed possum."

Lori is still making a face.

"Got the deer and this possum is Matty's first shot," Daryl tells her. "'course we were gonna have it to eat today."

Matty grins at that from where the boy has just gotten a kabob for himself. They have invited Michonne, Tavon and Michonne's youngest, Andre, over and Beth watches as Matty and Tavon and Henry Raleigh each take a kabob, the boys saying something and laughing over it. Beth smiles at the sight. She knows Tavon was angry with Matty for wanting to take a break from football and the team but it seems like – with all arguments between friends – that it has been forgotten. At least for the time being. Tavon is a talented quarterback all on his own but he has gotten so used to having Matty there next to him during games. It will be a new adjustment for everyone.

But after the game yesterday – another Gators win – Beth noticed immediately how much Matty was smiling. He walked off that field with a smile and smiled the rest of the day – as if he was an adult who had just gotten two-weeks paid vacation from work. And today, he still seems so light. He's not worried about practice or plays or the next game.

He went hunting with Daryl yesterday afternoon and came home, beaming as he held the dead possum by the tail, and Beth had looked at him and he was still Matty. Not Matt. He's still Matty and he's just a little kid and he's still acting like one. Beth wants to make sure he's able to act like one for as long as he can.

As the talk is still about possum, Beth's eyes slowly drift down to her still flat stomach. She meant what she said to Daryl about their baby that will hopefully happen soon. If it's at all possible, she wants to keep this baby far away from any kind of sport. But she knows that if that's what their baby wants to do, she and Daryl will let them do it. She just wants a healthy and a happy baby. She _really_ wants a baby.

Rick has come into the kitchen, eating his own kabob in one hand and a piece of deer in the other and Lori is asking him how he could possibly eat that, knowing what it is. Beth lifts her eyes to become involved in the conversation once more and when she does, she sees that Daryl is looking at her. His own eyes drop down to her stomach and then his eyes lift back up to meet hers. She gives him a small smile and he smiles a little, too.

…

* * *

 **Thank you very much for reading and please take a moment to review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Honestly, I personally think this chapter is crap and I didn't even know if I wanted to post it or not.**

* * *

…

 **Part Three.**

Daryl wakes up like he's been waking up for the past couple of weeks. Beth on her side and he's curled his body around her, his arm over her hip and his hand on her stomach. There's not much there yet. Just the slightest bump that she is able to hide behind looser shirts than what she normally wears and he's sure everyone has already guessed that she is but none have come out and straight asked either of them about it. And Daryl's grateful because he wants to keep it between them for just a while.

She closes the cupcake shop up early on Thursdays and she comes to the garage to see him, bringing lunch with her like she usually does on every other Thursday. She's holding two bags and a box. The bag is from the diner in town, the little box is holding the leftover cupcakes to bring to the shop for him and the other guys, and the other bag is brown paper and blank and he can't see what it is.

She smiles as she enters the front office where Daryl is standing behind the front counter, straightening things up a bit, and she sets the food bag and box down in front of him. She then leans over the counter and gives him a quick kiss.

"How's work today?" She asks him.

He nods. "Pretty good. Had to keep myself from punching a customer earlier in the face though."

"Just one?" She laughs. "That _is_ a good day for you then," she teases and he smirks a little. She holds up the paper bag. "Do you mind if I use your bathroom real quick?" She then asks – as if she has to ask.

He has just taken a French fry out of the diner bag and he looks at her, about to tell her that, but he stops. She's smiling and she's holding a brown paper bag and she's just asked to use the bathroom. And Daryl has absolutely no experience with anything like this but he can think of only one reason for any of this. He doesn't ask her though. He just turns and heads into the staff bathroom, making sure the toilet is flushes and there's plenty of toilet paper and Beth comes in after him.

"Are you going to watch me do this?" She laughs a little, her cheeks pink.

"Yes," he nods and with that, he closes the door behind them both.

Beth pulls the pregnancy test box from the paper bag, dropping the bag into the trashcan and a moment later, the box the test comes in.

"You ain't gonna read the directions?" Daryl asks as she takes the plastic strip test and walks to the toilet.

"You can if you want. It's kind of self-explanatory though," she answers and she's still smiling and Daryl doesn't care if she's teasing him and he doesn't care just how self-explanatory this all is.

As she undoes her jeans and sits on the toilet, Daryl reaches into the trashcan and pulls the pregnancy test box out once again, reading the directions on the back. And she's right. It is pretty easy to understand what she has to do. Pee on the stick. Wait a few minutes. Plus sign means she is. Minus sign means she ain't. Simple as that.

Beth must have been waiting to do this for a while because she starts peeing within a second, not seeming to care that Daryl is giving her an audience, and when she is done, she holds the test out for Daryl to take so she could get herself together again. And Daryl doesn't care that he's touching something she's just peed on. It's just pee and she's his wife and they're pretty intimate with one another by now.

Beth washes her hands and then pulls out her phone, looking at the time. "How long do we have to wait?" She asks, leaning against the counter beside him.

"Thought you said you didn't need the directions?" It's his turn to tease and she smiles, bumping her hip playfully against his. "Five minutes," he then says, staring down at the plastic strip test, willing the answer to appear sooner than that. "What made you buy this?" He asks, turning his head towards her again.

Beth shrugs. "I've never been late. Even with how stressed I sometimes get, I'm pretty much clockwork. The only other time I was late was when I was pregnant with Matty."

And maybe it's because of that that when the five minutes are up and there's a plus sign in the little display window, Daryl doesn't feel necessarily surprised. He and Beth have been trying and she's been telling him to be patient and Beth being late is apparently the only sign he needs. But holding a pregnancy test with an actual sign in it, he stares down at it and he hears Beth next to him – first gasping and then laughing a little and he finally looks at her, seeing tears slide down her cheeks from dancing eyes.

Without a word, he pulls her into him, his arms strong around her and his mouth on hers. And she cries and laughs and kisses him back as he smiles against her lips.

They agree almost immediately that they aren't going to tell anyone. Not even Matty. Daryl doesn't like to hear something like that but Beth tells him that the first trimester can be a fragile time and it would be terrible if everyone celebrates the pregnancy only for something to happen. Daryl decides he needs to read a pregnancy book as soon as he can. He never thought about kids before and had sure as hell never thought of having any for himself but meeting Beth and Matty, they had managed to change his outlook on pretty much everything when it came to his life. He knows absolutely nothing about babies and suddenly, in a few months, he's going to have one.

He already loves waking up like this – Beth still sleeping and his hand on the tiniest bump and he can't wait for it to grow. He knows a part of him can't really believe it still. Yeah, he and Beth had been trying to get pregnant – and had a lot of fun while doing it – so he knows what they both wanted the end result to be but he's going to be having a baby with Beth in a few months. He's already got Matty and he loves that kid more than himself and Matty's his. Got his last name and his name is listed under _father_ on his certificate and no matter what anyone might think about it, he is that kid's dad.

But now, he's going to be having a baby with Beth and there's no one else in the world he even ever _imagined_ having something like this. Just her and the way she loves him and the way she happily wants to bring another Dixon into this world. Not only can he still not quite really believe it, it's all a little overwhelming when he thinks about it.

Fall has come and it's a little cool but it's the perfect temperature to sleep with the windows open. Beth loves curling up beneath the blankets with him and she loves feeling the cool fresh air breeze over her as she sleeps.

Daryl lifts his head and looks at the clock on the nightstand next to Beth's side of the bed. He knows it's early. It's still grey outside and the birds are chirping all over one another, wanting their morning song to be heard above all of the others. And he's right. It's just a little past five. He knows Beth will keep sleeping for a while. He had ordered a book online – so it would come to the house without anyone seeing what it was – and he had read that the first trimester was tiring for the woman as their bodies started going through all of the changes, adjusting to the pregnancy. It wouldn't be until the second trimester when she would start to feel a little more normal.

This will be the third Saturday that Matty won't be playing football but he still goes to every game and every practice and Daryl goes with him to the field to watch the games from the stands, Matty always quiet as he watches the field and the plays with sharp eyes. The kid has been asked by more than one Gators parent as to when he's going to come back but Matty just shrugs and doesn't answer and Daryl knows that not even Matty knows. He loves football but the kid's nine and his life should be about being nine. Whenever Matty goes back to playing, it will because _he_ wants to be playing.

And as if she can sense him being awake, Beth shifts a little then. "Mmmm," she says sleepily and Daryl can't help but lean down and brush his lips across her cheek. She presses herself against him in response and his hand slips from her stomach so his arm can wrap around her middle, holding her close.

"Still early yet," he tells her lowly in her ear. "No reason for you to be awake yet." And her eyes stay closed but she shakes her head. "You gonna throw up?" He then asks.

He learned pretty damn fast to not bring any of the raw meat he's hunted around Beth. And even though he doesn't anymore, she still throws up at least one time in the mornings. Perfectly normal, the book's assured him.

Beth shakes her head and she turns her head on the pillow, towards him. Slowly, her eyes open and she looks up at him as he props himself up on an elbow, looking down at her. Even tired, she's the prettiest thing he's ever seen but he'll never call her tired out loud. The book's warned him that Beth's hormones are a little crazy right now and he's not going to get a pregnant woman pissed at him. He's seen Beth when she's not pregnant and pissed off at him and that's enough without risking it now that there are hormones involved.

Instead, his hand gently touches her face, brushing some hair back that is stuck to her cheek, and her eyes close for a brief moment, her head leaning into his touch. And Daryl looks at her and feels an ache in his chest; not like this is hurting him but rather, these moments with Beth – and he has a thousand of them with her every day – make his chest ache because he just feels so damn much for her, he still doesn't know how to process all of it. He's never felt as much in his entire life before he met Beth.

He leans in and kisses her forehead. "'m gonna make some breakfast. Gators got a mornin' game today," he then tells her though Beth is well aware of the team's schedule and Daryl and Matty had talked about their morning plans last night during dinner.

She nods and still doesn't speak as she lifts her arms then and slip them around his shoulders, gently pulling on him until he takes the hint and lowers himself closer to her. Their lips meet and he kisses her softly, making sure he's not laying completely on top of her because he doesn't care how protected Beth says the baby is.

He's not going to crush it.

And Beth is getting frustrated by it because she knows what he's doing and she doesn't like it. He can hear her whimper, her arms tightening around him and her back arching, trying to press their bodies together. And Daryl's almost giving in. Of course he is. He's pretty damn spineless when it comes to Beth – especially when she's kissing him like this and clearly wants more than what's he's giving right now.

But he can't help it. There's a little baby the size of a peanut inside of her right now and they need to take care of that peanut.

With strength he didn't think he'd ever have when Beth is kissing him like this, Daryl's able to pull his lips away and then he gets out of bed, not caring if it looks like he's scrambling to get away from her because the truth of it is, he's doing exactly that.

"'m gonna go make some breakfast," he tells her again, daring to look back at her as she glares at him, still in bed, and as he leaves the bedroom, he feels the pillow she's thrown smack him against the back.

…

Matty is wearing his green Gators hoodie with his last name and number on the back and Daryl doesn't wear team colors – not seeing a point to it if Matty's not playing – and they sit halfway up the bleachers with the other Gators parents and Aaron has gotten into the habit of sitting next to them during the games – not that it bothers Daryl any. Eric is there at every game, too, but this weekend, he's gone to visit his mother and she's not the biggest fan of Aaron so he's stayed behind so Henry wouldn't miss a game. Daryl wonders if his mom-in-law doesn't like him because he's Aaron and not Erin.

"No Beth today?" Aaron asks as he settles himself down next to Daryl, sipping from a cup of coffee and watching as the teams do their warm ups before the game start.

"Nah," Daryl shakes his head. "Her shop's opened for a little bit on Saturday and she's there right now. She'll always be here for an afternoon one but not a mornin' one."

"I still need to go to her shop," Aaron comments. "I've heard from more than one person that she makes the best cupcakes in the county."

"In the state," Matty corrects him and Aaron smiles.

"I don't doubt that," Aaron says.

The two quarterbacks go onto the field for the coin toss and the Gator fans cheer when the ref blows his whistle and announces that its Gator's ball first. Both teams take up their positions, the ball is kicked and the game begins. Daryl admits that now that Matty's not playing, his interest in the games is waning. He knows it matters whether or not they win; if the Gators will be in the playoffs again like they had won last year and if Matty will be playing again for them this year or if he'll wait to come back next year.

But he just can't get in to it like he would if he was watching Matty tear up and down the field. And he doesn't feel guilty about that. He knows that the other parents here are only here to watch their own kid anyway.

"So, Matty," Aaron begins the conversation again once there is a timeout called. "You going to be a baker when you grow up or are you going to fix cars like your dad?"

"I'm going to play in the NFL," Matty then says with a sure grin and Daryl smiles a little, too, because he knows that there are a ton of kids who give that same answer but not all of those kids are Matty Dixon.

"What team? The Falcons?" Aaron guesses.

Matty makes a face at that as if the suggestion has offended him. "The Panthers," he says. "I told my Uncle Merle and he's already gotten a tattoo of a panther for me."

Daryl does his best to not snort at the comment. Yeah, Merle has gotten a tattoo in prison of a panther on his back – to join the others already on his body – once Matty told him that that was his favorite team and Beth had found it to be so sweet and Matty's eyes had widened and told Uncle Merle that it was so cool and Daryl knows that Merle does like his nephew and sister-in-law plenty but Merle is still Merle and Daryl knows that Merle is just waiting for Matty to hit it big so Merle can get some bets made and make some money off of his nephew in his circle of friends.

The whistle is blown and the game resumes and Matty's attention is diverted back to it.

Aaron doesn't talk or shout during the games like the other parents. He sits there and sips on his coffee but Daryl sees that the man's eyes stay on his son the entire time.

"You liking it here so far?" Daryl asks, surprising himself by starting up a conversation.

And Aaron smiles at him as if he seems to know that Daryl doesn't talk unless he has to.

"So far," Aaron gives a nod and takes another sip of his coffee. "People here are nice. Ridiculously inappropriate sometimes but nice," he chuckles a little.

And Daryl smirks a little at that, too, because he can just imagine. Being the only gay couple in a small Southern town, it would certainly get people talking – whether that be in a good way or less than a good way. Daryl doesn't care what Aaron does in the bedroom. Why would he? It has absolutely nothing to do with him and Aaron's been nothing but nice to him so there's no reason for Daryl not to be nice in return.

"If Eric's gone out of town for the night, you think you wanna come over tonight for dinner?" Daryl asks him. "You and Henry. Nothin' fancy. Just grillin' some burgers and Beth makes an amazin' pasta salad."

Aaron looks at him and breaks into a smile. "That'd be great. Thank you, Daryl."

Daryl shrugs as if it's no big deal and it's because it's really not. It's just burgers.

The cell phone in his pocket begins ringing and he hates the damn thing and it's really Beth's phone but ever since that strip showed the plus sign, Daryl likes to have it when he's out of the house so Beth's able to call him whenever she needs him.

"Hey," he answers. "Everythin' a'right?" He asks and he tries to sound as casual as he possibly can.

"Do you need anything at the store?" Beth asks without any form of greeting.

"Why are you goin' to the store?" Daryl asks in return.

"I have a taste for butter pecan ice cream and we don't have any in the house," she explains and he can hear the creak of an oven door opening and closing again. He's been meaning to go to the store and grease those oven doors for her.

"You don't gotta go to the store. Me and Matty can go," Daryl tells her and Matty's watching the game and he's not really paying attention but the boy nods anyway. "You jus' wan' the ice cream?"

"It's not a want, Daryl. It's a need," Beth corrects him and he smirks a little.

"Sorry 'bout that. Need," Daryl corrects himself. "You need anythin' else? You got the stuff you need to make pasta salad?"

"Is that your way of telling me that you want pasta salad for dinner tonight?" She laughs a little and then she pauses, thinking it through. He knows they grow the vegetables they need in the garden and they buy boxes of pasta when it's on sale so he knows they have plenty of that, too. "A jar of black olives and one onion," Beth then tells him.

"And butter pecan ice cream."

"Don't you dare forget that butter pecan ice cream, Daryl Dixon, or don't even both coming home," Beth tells him and Daryl wants to smirk at that but the thing is, he knows that Beth, this pregnant Beth, isn't joking about it.

…

"Go and take that inside to your mom," Daryl says, handing Matty one of the grocery bags from the back of the pickup truck.

Matty nods and heads into the house with the olives, onion and butter pecan ice cream. Daryl takes the two other bags – the one with the fresh hamburger buns and the other holding the eight hamburger patties – and puts the hamburger patties in the little refrigerator that keep in the garage. He doesn't want to bring the raw meat into the house because he knows just seeing it will make Beth want to throw up and he wants to avoid doing that.

He then takes the other bag and heads into the house. Through the kitchen window, he can see Matty out in the backyard with Otter, throwing the dog's tennis ball for him, and Beth is already leaning against the counter with a spoon, eating right from the ice cream carton. She smiles as he steps into the kitchen.

"You are allowed to enter," she smiles at him and he smirks, dropping the bag of buns down on the counter. "Matty told me we're having company over for dinner."

Daryl shrugs. "Jus' Aaron and Henry. Eric's out of town and I thought it would be somethin' nice to do for 'em since they're still new to town."

Beth is just looking at him and smiling at him and Daryl starts to feel his ears warm.

"Wha'?" He asks.

"You've made a friend," she smiles at him.

He shrugs and doesn't argue with that but he feels a little embarrassed. "You're actin' like I don't already have friends."

She shakes her head. "It's just very hard to make new friends when you're an adult and you've made one," she says and she's still smiling.

"You act all surprised. I'm not too much of an asshole where I can' make a new friend," he says but she laughs at that which makes him think that she might not agree about the not being much of an asshole comment.

He fills himself a glass of water from the faucet and then leans beside her, trying not to watch the way her tongue wraps around the spoon as she eats her ice cream.

"Still pissed at me 'bout this mornin'?" He asks.

"Yes," she answers without hesitation. "Having sex during pregnancy is perfectly fine, Daryl. Doctor approved. Haven't you read that chapter yet?"

"No," he says and takes a sip of water. "And until I do, I ain't puttin' any part of me inside of you." Beth frowns at him and it's about as fierce as a baby deer frowning at him but Daryl isn't looking to piss her off – pregnant or not. "Gotta take care of both of you," he then says in a low voice because she can't be mad at him for saying that.

And as expected, Beth's face softens. She sighs softly. "And you do but trust me, Daryl." Her hand comes to a rest over her little bump beneath her tee-shirt. "The baby is so protected inside of me, you can't possibly hurt me or it."

He's quiet for a moment and takes another sip of water. "We should come up with a nickname for it. Don' like callin' our baby 'it'," he says and she gives a big smile at that.

"What should we use as a nickname then?" She asks him and he smiles a little as he looks at her because her eyes look as if they are dancing. And Daryl has always thought that Beth is the prettiest thing he's ever seen but now that she's pregnant, somehow, that's made her even prettier and he hadn't thought that would ever be possible.

He shrugs and thinks for a moment. His hand then slides over her hand, joining her in touching the tiny baby bump. "Nibblet," he then says and she laughs almost immediately and putting the ice cream down on the counter, she turns and wraps her arms around him, hugging him tightly.

He puts his water glass down and his own arms circle around her and hugs her back tightly – but not as tightly as he normally would have. He tilts his head down and presses his nose into her shoulder and then after another moment, he feels her start to shake in his arms and her face is warm and wet against the side of his neck. She has started crying and he wants to ask her what's wrong but he knows that there probably is nothing wrong. It's just her hormones going crazy right now and there are going to be a lot of hormones over the next few months.

…

"Well, Beth, Daryl was not lying. You make an amazing pasta salad," Aaron smiles at her once he puts his fork down on his clean plate.

"I'm so glad you like it," Beth smiles, her cheeks blushing a little with the compliment. "And I'm so glad Daryl thought to invite you over tonight for dinner."

"Thank you for having both of us," Aaron says.

"Oh, please, it's just burgers and pasta salad," Beth gets up and starts to clear the table of plates, Daryl getting up immediately to help. "And now cupcakes for dessert."

They have eaten their dinner that evening on the back deck and after eating, Matty and Henry have gone down the steps with Otter to play football in the backyard. Aaron gets up to help as well and the three adults go into the kitchen where there are cupcakes on a plate on the counter, freshly baked that afternoon.

"These are almost too amazing looking to eat," Aaron comments while Daryl is already taking one for himself and taking a large bite from it.

"Well, you can just stare at it if you want but Daryl and Matty will eat all of yours," Beth laughs a little, taking one for herself.

And Aaron finally licks at the chocolate frosting, almost moaning as he did. "So," he says as he takes another lick. "Matty wasn't lying either. Best cupcakes in the whole state."

Beth blushes and smiles again at that. "Daryl and Matty keep telling me I need to try out for _Cupcake Wars_ ," she says with a little laugh as if it's the silliest thing she's ever heard.

Aaron is just smiling though as if it's not that silly at all. "So, do you think you'll try out now or are you going to wait until after the baby's born?"

Daryl, almost finished with his cupcake, stops in mid-bite and stares at the man standing across the little kitchen and Beth, standing near him, has frozen as well. Aaron, at first, doesn't notice their reactions, smiling as he watches the boys for a moment play before taking a careful swipe of cupcake frosting and finally looks back to the couple, seeing them staring at him as if they are both shell-shocked.

And Aaron's eyes widen a little bit and he's not a stupid man. He's quick to realize that Daryl and Beth have told no one that she's pregnant and he's the first – and only – to know about it.

…

* * *

 **Thank you very much for reading and please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I honestly wasn't sure about continuing this story just because I feel like _Catch Me_ was pretty much perfect and it was such a loved story. But I got the muse tickling today to keep writing this one so that's what I've done. I hope you like it. **

* * *

…

 **Part Four.**

Beth stands in front of the full length mirror in the corner of the bedroom, sideways so she can study her profile. She doesn't look pregnant. There's a bump but it's barely there and she's been wearing loose shirts in an effort to hide it. Her face isn't swollen. There's absolutely nothing about her that makes it obvious that she's pregnant. So how on earth was Aaron able to take one look at her and just know that she is?

She and Daryl have made an agreement not to mention the baby until her fourth month and she knows that Daryl was reluctant to do so and she had smiled because she likes Daryl being so happy and excited, he wants to tell everyone about it. But anything can happen in the first trimester. It's still such a fragile time and if something _does_ happen and she has a miscarriage, she'd rather that happen when only she and Daryl know of it. She wouldn't be able to deal with her own grief while dealing with everyone else's sympathy towards her.

Aaron was so apologetic once he realized – quickly – that he wasn't supposed to _know_ about the baby and he swore up and down and promised them that he wouldn't breathe a word of it to anyone. He promised them that he'd forget about it entirely and though Beth doubts that that's possible, and even though she still doesn't know Aaron and is just getting to know him, she finds herself believing that he will keep the secret.

With a soft sigh, Beth pulls her shirt back down, grabs the book she's currently in the middle of reading from her nightstand and heads towards the stairs. She stops though and heads down to the hallway, to the small empty bedroom next to hers and Daryl's. It's completely empty at the moment. When she and Daryl bought the house, they agreed that one bedroom would be theirs, one would be Matty's and the third and final bedroom would be for the baby they both wanted so badly. And since moving in, they haven't put anything inside of it. Not even a cardboard box from the move.

Beth stands in the doorway now and flips on the too-white overhead light and looks around the small, simple square bedroom with the simple white walls. The room is in the back corner of the house and has one window that looks over the backyard and another window that overlooks the side of the house and she imagines the sheer white curtains blowing in the gentle breeze when it's summer and it's warm enough to leave the windows open a crack. She's never had a nursery before and she remembers that after having Matty and he was a baby, they still lived on the farm with her parents, in her bedroom, the baby's crib pushed against one wall.

She stands in the doorway of the empty bedroom and imagines everything she and Daryl would be able to do with the space. New paint on the walls, new baby furniture, a rocking chair in the corner that she can sit in and cradle the baby and sing to them.

Her hand drifts down to the barely-there bump and rests it there and imagines when she'll finally be able to feel little Nibblet moving within. She's going to pray every day just as she always does and she'll pray that everything will be fine with this pregnancy. There's no reason why anything should go wrong. She's healthy and she's going to take the best care of Nibblet. Nothing had happened during her pregnancy with Matty and there's no reason why anything will happen with this one.

Flipping the switch, turning the light off and drowning the room in semi-darkness again, Beth turns and heads back down the hallway, this time going down the stairs. In the living room, Daryl and Matty are sitting on the couch – each eating their second cupcake of the night and drinking glasses of milk, the television on across from them. Every Saturday night, Daryl and Matty watch episodes of _Cops_ together. Beth's not sure where the ritual came from. Daryl had babysat for her a couple of times – before they were together and she was dating Spencer, another lifetime ago. Maybe it had been then. Whenever it was though, it is a habit that is rarely broken.

Beth thinks that maybe, Daryl watches it with Matty as his way of making the boy stays on the straight. By showing him stupid mistakes people make all of the time, Daryl is trying to keep Matty from turning into every other man in his family line.

Beth goes to the front door, making sure it's locked even though she knows Daryl's already locked the house up for the night, and she then goes to curl up in the armchair, a hand going out to Matty's head as she passes. Tucking her legs up beneath herself, she turns on the lamp on the table beside the chair and opens the book where she left off. It's one of those light stories – about a woman who buys a dog compulsively after a breakup and winds up meeting the love of her life in a dog park. Beth prefers books like this. She is always guaranteed a happy ending and sometimes, life can be crappy enough without adding to it by reading books that make her feel crappy, too.

She gets engrossed in the story and it takes her a moment to realize that Daryl's standing in front of her. She lifts her head and smiles up at him.

"Gettin' more milk. You want some?" He asks.

She shakes her head, still smiling. "I'm okay, thank you."

He doesn't seem to like that answer though. "I'm gonna get you some milk. You need to make sure you drink plenty of it 'specially now," he tells her and she laughs softly.

"You read that in your book?" She teases him lightly.

"Yeah," he says. "Nothin' wrong with keepin' your bones strong."

"You read that chapter but you won't skip ahead to another chapter?" She asks with a raised eyebrow and she's still teasing at him but at the same time, she's completely serious. She loves that Daryl feels the need to be so careful with her but at the same time, she absolutely hates it.

He can't just make her fall completely in love with having sex with him and then refuse to have sex with her.

"'m gonna read every chapter," is all he says before going into the kitchen.

Matty's slouched on the couch, stretching his legs out so he can rest his feet on the coffee table placed in front of the couch.

"Did you have fun with Henry tonight?" Beth asks after glancing to the television to see that the show is on a commercial break.

"Yeah," Matty nods his head. "He's lucky. He has a ton of other stuff to do besides football. His dads makes sure of it. He takes violin lessons and he's in the science club."

Beth takes a moment to think of what to say to that. Matty never expressed any interest in doing anything other than play football. It never even crossed her mind that now that he's taking a break from playing, he might possibly be bored.

"Are you wanting to do something?" Beth asks.

Matty shrugs and the episode of _Cops_ resumes and his attention focuses back onto that and Daryl comes back, handing her a small glass of milk and then sits down on the couch with his own in his hand.

"Where are they?" Daryl asks him.

"Pensacola," Matty tells him.

"Merle went down to Pensacola for a while," Daryl comments off-handedly. "Didn' go with him. Was already workin' at the garage when he went."

"You think he's on this episode?" Matty then asks innocently but Daryl chuckles as if that's one of the best things he's ever heard and Beth doesn't bite back her own smile.

"Don't know," Daryl then answers and Beth can hear in his voice that it's actually absolutely possible that Merle pop up on this episode. "Merle likes to surprise people."

And later, once they have turned off the lights and made sure the doors are locked and have gone upstairs, Beth makes sure Matty gets into his bed and then gets herself ready for bed before climbing in between the cool sheets, pulling her laptop into her lap. Daryl comes in from the bathroom a few minutes later, wearing a tee-shirt and boxers to sleep in, and he first goes to the window to open it a crack to allow the cool fall night breeze in as they sleep and he then goes to the bed, climbing onto his side and laying down flat on his back. He turns his head on the pillow to look at her beside him.

"Whatcha doin'?" He asks and barely gets the question out before he lets out a yawn. He adjusts the blankets over him. "You pinnin' more nursery stuff?" He guesses.

She smiles a little. Since the test came back positive, Beth's been on Pinterest constantly, adding all sorts of nursery related rooms to one her boards – setting it to private for the time being so no one can see – and she has shown Daryl plenty of ideas. They haven't made any decisions yet though she knows that whatever they do decide on for a baby's nursery, with Daryl doing it, it will get done just as she's envisions.

"No," Beth shakes her head. "Matty said something… I'm just doing some research."

"What kind of research?"

"Things at his school that might interest him," Beth says, her eyes not leaving the screen as she then opens a new window and types in the website for their town's YMCA, seeing if they have anything on their schedule that Matty might want to get involved in. "I know he's going to go back to football eventually but I think right now, he's feeling a little lost. Maybe even a little bored."

"Don't surprise me," Daryl says and does his best to bite back the next yawn. "If the kid's not at school, he's at practice and if he's not at practice, he's at a game. Got nothin' but free time now and a person who's used to bein' busy, once you ain't, you don't know how to handle it."

Beth wonders if Daryl ever realizes just how much he and Matty share in common.

After another few minutes of searching, Beth closes the laptop and carefully slides it onto her nightstand before slipping further down between the covers. She instantly turns towards Daryl, her head finding his chest and one of his arms wrapping around her shoulders as his other hand reaches out and turns the lamp off on the nightstand, sending their bedroom into darkness though not complete. Their bedroom faces the back of the house and their neighbor who has their backyard bordering theirs has a small back porch light they keep on all night. The man has a teenage daughter who sneaks out at night and she thinks her dad doesn't know about it but he does.

Beth knows it makes Daryl hope that they have another boy. Beth can't imagine them having a daughter who would sneak out though. Of course, anyone who gives birth to a daughter lives with the idea that their daughter is a precious angel and that they would never give their parents grey hair.

But it's not a bothersome light. It's not too bright and there's plenty of yard between the two and she pulls the drapes down most of the way when they're in bed.

Now that the lights are off and she's lying in bed, Beth realizes how tired she is and she had forgotten how tiring the first trimester of a pregnancy could be. Before she knew she was pregnant with Matty, she started falling asleep in class – something that had never happened to her before – and the teachers wrote notes home about it and it was her mom who read them and took her to the doctor, in the back of her mind, Annette already having a feeling as to what was going on with her daughter.

The second trimester will be better and she'll feel more like herself even as the baby grows larger and she gets larger, too. She'll have more energy and hopefully, she won't have the need to throw up every day and her husband will finish reading the pregnancy book and see for himself that there's absolutely nothing wrong with them being intimate even with little Nibblet inside of her.

Daryl is a stubborn man and Beth knows she can't force him to skip ahead and read that chapter first and then go back and read all of the other chapters. Daryl is going to read the book's chapters in orders and all she can do in that time is glare at him.

All she can do is hope that he's finished reading the book by her second trimester because if not, she might just have to kill him and she's really not looking to be a single mom again. Now that she has Daryl, she doesn't want to do anything alone ever again.

…

Beth is not imagining it. She knows she's not. Her mom is looking at her. Not just looking at her but _looking_ at her.

Every Sunday, after going to church service in the morning, Beth and Matty go to the farm to spend the day. Sometimes, Daryl comes with them but usually, he goes to go visit Merle. Beth and Matty will go with him sometimes but Beth knows that Daryl likes to go on his own most times. He really doesn't like the idea of Beth and Matty going into a prison – though Beth has visited Merle on her own a few times – and she knows that sometimes, the two brothers talk about things that Daryl doesn't want her to hear.

Daryl has left straight from the church and Beth and Matty ride back to the farm with her parents, stopping at their house to pick up Otter. Once arriving at the large Greene house, Matty goes to the barn with Hershel. One of the horses was feeling a little under the weather and Hershel is going to check up on the animal with his grandson's help and Beth and Annette go into the house where Annette begins making dinner – which Daryl will be back in time for – and Beth helps.

Wearing aprons, they work on the fried chicken – which takes hours to make but is well worth it in the end. Beth is stirring the batter as she makes cornbread from scratch and she looks up every few minutes to see Annette's eyes on her. It's starting to be unsettling and Beth can't help but frown a little.

"What?" She finally asks.

But Annette shakes her head – as Beth expected her to do. "Nothing, dear," she says.

Beth does her best to keep from sighing. "That's not a nothing look."

"I'm sorry. It's nothing. Really, Bethy," Annette says with another shake of her head and coats the chicken with more flour. But minutes later, she's back to looking at her intently and Beth stops mixing and stirring to look back with a raised eyebrow this time. Annette lets out a slight laugh then as if she's just realized something.

And Beth feels her stomach tense a little. Her mom's not an idiot and she already knows what Beth looks like when she's pregnant but how can her mom possibly know? She doesn't _look_ pregnant and it's Aaron all over again. How are people looking at her and knowing? Her dress is loose today. There's nothing to show off yet.

"How far along are you?" Annette asks, stopping in her work to wipe her hands off on her apron and she walks around the work table in the middle of the kitchen to come towards her.

"Far along with what?" Beth asks, trying to remain as innocent as possible.

Annette just gives her a look that tells Beth she knows better than to treat her like an idiot and Beth lets out a soft sigh.

"Not far at all. Three months. That's why Daryl and I haven't told anyone yet. It's still too new and we don't want something happening-" Beth cuts herself off.

Annette is looking at her with a smile and tears brimming in her eyes and Beth feels herself smiling, too, and tears sting her own eyes which she knows isn't because of her hormones going crazy. Annette takes the bowl from Beth's hands and sets it down before enveloping her daughter in a tight hug. And Beth smiles and hugs her back.

"I am so happy for you and Daryl," she says to her, kissing her on the head, pulling back and putting her hands on Beth's shoulders, she holds her back so she can look her over.

"How were you able to tell?" Beth asks curiously because maybe the way Annette had guessed is the same way Aaron had been able to guess and she wants to know so maybe, she'll be able to hide it.

Annette smiles. "You're glowing," she says and that's all she says; as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. "How are you feeling? Any cravings? How's Daryl taking it? Bad morning sickness yet?"

"I'm feeling fine. Very tired all of the time but it's manageable. Cravings have just been butter pecan ice cream so far. Daryl is so happy but he's nervous and he's reading a pregnancy book and refuses to skip chapters. And the morning sickness has been about every day, usually just as I'm first waking up and then I'm good the rest of the day."

"You'll go upstairs and take a nap later," Annette says and it's not really a flat-out order but it's really not a mere suggestion either. "And Daryl will get to that chapter," she says with a smile, returning to the chicken, knowing exactly what chapter Beth is talking about. "He may be the best daddy Matty could ever ask for but he's still a new one. He just needs to learn these things."

Beth nods, knowing that even though she has to constantly remind herself that Daryl being careful isn't some terrible crime. It's actually very sweet – if it wasn't just so darn frustrating for her.

Annette keeps on smiling. "And the great thing about having a man who absolutely loves you as much as that husband of yours loves you… he can always be persuaded."

And even though she feels like laughing, Beth blushes instead because although she's not a virgin – obviously – talking about sex with her mom is still mortifying. She doesn't care how old she is or how many times she's been pregnant.

After the cornbread is mixed and baking in the oven, Beth tries to help with other things but Annette puts her hands on her back and gently pushes her from the kitchen, telling her that she's just put fresh sheets on her old bed and that image feels too tempting to Beth to stand strong against.

Upstairs, in her childhood bedroom, Beth slips out of her heels and with a contended sigh, she slides onto the bed and with the warm sunshine on her face, she closes her eyes and almost instantly, she feels herself dropping off into sleep.

She's not sure how long she's asleep but the next thing she knows, she feels a dip on the mattress beside her and even without opening her eyes, she knows who is it.

His strong, familiar arms wrap around her and she can smell his familiar scent of leather and smoke and earth and with her eyes still closed, she snuggles in closer to him.

"How's Merle?" She asks, her voice heavy and groggy.

"Fine," he answers but he does it too quickly and short and she knows Merle's not fine.

"Does he need anything?" She asks and she is finally able to open her eyes, looking at him as he lays stretched out next to her on his side, holding her close to his front.

"A new brain maybe," Daryl says and Beth keeps looking at him, not saying anything; waiting for him to say more. He exhales a soft breath. "Stupid shit got into a fight. And even with him limpin' and bruised, stupid shit's still smilin' like nothin's wrong."

Beth isn't too sure what to say about that. She likes Merle and Merle likes her but Daryl has much more experience with his brother and knows him far better than she ever will and even if she says something, Daryl will just shake his head and not believe her and she knows that he has more than enough reason not to believe her when it concerns his older brother.

Daryl exhales another breath; as if he's exhaling Merle from his system and when he looks at her again, his entire demeanor changes. His body is visibly more relaxed and his eyes are warmer now, too.

"How you feelin'?" He asks and she knows his brother's completely from his mind now – for the time being.

"Mom knows. She guessed just like Aaron did," Beth tells him.

He doesn't look surprised. He just smirks a little. "Would explain the hug she gave me downstairs that almost made me black out."

Beth giggles at that and she snuggles in closer to him and his arms tighten around her. They lay there for a few minutes. Or maybe even an hour. She doesn't know and she doesn't even really care. She knows nothing in life is ever perfect but there are always moments like this. Quiet moments that don't seem like much but in actuality, are everything. Moments that make life seem absolutely perfect.

Her legs are bare, her dress having hitched up around her knees as she slept, and she feels the soft material of the pants he wears – black dress pants he wears to church – and the softness of the bed's comforter. She feels Daryl's thumb on her shoulder – the bare patch of skin from where her cardigan sweater has slipped a little – brushing back and forth. She can hear Otter barking outside at something and then a moment later, Matty calling out to him to leave the cows alone.

"I've been thinking of names," she then says quietly, wanting to keep the moment quiet.

His thumb doesn't stop it's slow and gentle sweeping. "Thought you said we shouldn' think of names 'til at least the fifth month."

Beth shrugs in response to that. "Do you mind?" She tilts her head up a little so she can look at him, his face already turned downwards towards hers.

"Why'd I mind that? What do you got?" He asks, making her smile.

"Mark or John if it's a boy," she says even though he already knows that and he nods now, reminding her of that.

When she was younger, when she had Matty, she had in her mind that if she had four sons, she'd name the Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. She doesn't know if she and Daryl will have four children – let alone four sons – but she wants to keep going along with this particular plan of hers.

And Daryl doesn't seem to mind it.

"And if it's a girl, what do you think of Ophelia?" She asks.

He makes a face and she can't be sure whether it's one of distaste or not. "Ophelia?" He echoes, trying it out on his own tongue, that look still across his face and it makes her laugh a little.

"She was a character in _Hamlet_ , a Shakespeare play," she tells him.

"I know what _Hamlet_ is and I know Ophelia went and drowned herself in the river," he says with a furrowed brow. "You wanna name our daughter after her?"

"I've always thought the name was so beautiful," Beth says as her defense.

His thumb is still brushing along her shoulder and she almost wishes it wasn't because although she loves when Daryl touches her, she loves it even more when he does _something_ besides touch her. She can't help but shift now as if uncomfortable and she supposes that that is exactly what she is. She moves her legs, brushing them along his, and her hands slowly trail lower on his chest.

Daryl watches her with dark eyes.

"What names do you like if we have a daughter?" She asks in a voice that sounds breathless even to her own ears and it's beginning to ache between her thighs. She wonders if he'll figure it out if she lets out a little whimper right now.

Daryl stares at her and she keeps her eyes locked with his and she thinks _maybe…_ but when her fingers then boldly follow the seam of his pants zipper, he springs up as if she's just stabbed him. He hurries off the bed, his breath heavy, and his body obviously tight with tension.

"Daryl," Beth frowns at him, sitting up, too.

But he's already almost out the door. "Dinner's just 'bout done," he says to her from over his shoulder, not stopping.

"Would you just read the chapter?" She calls out after him and then exhaling a heavy sigh, she flops down on her back and glares up at the ceiling, trying to get herself calmed down again but she's coiled as tight as a mattress spring and doesn't see that happening any time soon.

…

* * *

 **Thank you very much for reading and please take a moment to review!  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**Someone mentioned in their review to _Catch Me_ that they wished we had seen more of Daryl and Beth actually being a couple so that's why I wrote this follow-up. That, and I really just love the imagery in this particular universe. Maybe I shouldn't have written it. As I've mentioned it, _Catch Me_ was as close to perfect as I could have written a story and maybe I should have left it alone. But I really love everything in this universe and I wasn't ready to say goodbye to it just yet. This story is going to have seven parts. **

* * *

…

 **Part Five.**

He decides it's time to go back and when he tells mama and dad over dinner, neither of them seem surprised at all. He knows they've been expecting this. He has sat out for three weeks now and he feels plenty rested and even though he's not been playing, he's been going to practices and games and Coach T and his Uncle Shawn and Coach Tyreese, the offensive coach, have been writing and working on new plays with the rest of the team so even when he does come back, he knows it's not resting on just him anymore. And he's missed playing football. _So much_. There's something about it that makes him think like maybe, playing football is somehow in his blood.

And because Matty is happy, his mama and dad seem happy, too, about him playing again. The cheers he gets from the parents in the stands on his first game back as he runs onto the field has him smiling for most of the game even as he gets tackled.

He sees his dad at one of the games. Not Daryl. Daryl is always there, sitting in the stands with his mama, and he comes to practices sometimes, too, and Daryl is his dad in all senses of the word. No. His _birth_ dad comes to one of his games and he gets so distracted, he almost misses the ball Tavon pitches to him but he catches it and tears down the field and scores his second touchdown that day. He doesn't notice the slaps on his helmet from his teammates or the cheers from the crowd. He stares off to the sideline and there, standing next to the aluminum stands, is his dad. Jimmy. He's too far away to see him clearly but Matty just knows.

Matty's eyes go straight to his mama in the stands, sitting with dad and Henry's dads, and Grandpa and Grandma, Aunt Maggie, Uncle Glenn and the twins are all with them. Since he's begun playing again, the whole family shows up just as they always have done – coming out to cheer him on and support him. Mama is smiling and laughing at something that Aunt Maggie is saying to her and she doesn't see his dad there.

He hasn't seen his dad in so long. Not since that one time he and his dad – his _real_ dad – was at the grocery store and Matty saw him standing at the deli counter with his wife. She had been pregnant and plenty of time had passed by now so Matty just assumes that she has given birth to the baby his dad really wanted. Matty wonders if he has a little brother or sister. Not that he will ever know them. His birth dad wants absolutely nothing to do with him and he definitely doesn't want his first son in his life.

So, why is he here? He isn't supposed to be here. Matty doesn't want him here.

The ref blows the whistle and Matty heads off the field for some water and words from Coach T, the man grinning and slapping him on the helmet, telling him how good it is to have him back in a Gators uniform. And Matty wants to smile but he's too distracted now. He can feel his dad's eyes watching him.

He looks up towards the stands, looking at his parents, hoping they can do something to help him right now but at the same time, he doesn't want them to know. Mama will get upset and dad will get angry and he doesn't want them to be either of those things.

And when the game's done and they finish walking across the field, shaking the hands of the team they had just beat, Matty takes off his helmet and he instantly looks back to the spot where his dad was standing but it's empty now and he's gone and Matty can't help but look for him and wonder where he's gone even after dad and mama come up to him, telling him that he played so great and they are going to go get some ice cream now with the rest of the family.

…

He can't ask his mama this. He knows how upset she gets but she gets angry, too, and Matty doesn't know the whole story – doesn't know any of it actually – but he knows his birth dad didn't just hurt him but he hurt mama, too.

Every Sunday, after church, dad goes to visit Uncle Merle and mama and Matty go to the farm to spend the rest of the day with Grandma Annette and Grandpa Hershel. And mama always goes into the house with Grandma and Matty always goes into the barn with Grandpa or with one of the fields with him. Today, he goes into the barn, Otter trotting after him as always, and he follows Grandpa into one of the horse stalls where one of the mares is expecting a foal in the next few days.

"Grandpa?" Matty asks, almost hesitantly, not sure if he should be doing this but knowing that he wants to.

"Hmmmm?" Hershel says, running his hands over the side of the horse's body, able to feel the baby animal within.

"What was my dad like when he was younger?" He asks, almost blurting the question out because asking quickly is really the only way he can imagine getting the question out. He knows he has been wanting to ask it but now that he actually has, he's not really sure why he has or why he wants to know anything about that man.

Hershel has grown still, his hands still on the side of the horse, and it looks as if maybe, the older man isn't even breathing. But then, slowly, he turns and looks at Matty and Matty keeps looking at his grandpa, making sure that the man knows that he's serious. He wants to know. He doesn't know anything except for a few random memories he has of the guy, coming to pick him up from his and mama's apartment and Matty never wanting to go with him; of the guy who didn't know what his favorite food was and always had to ask whenever Matty was with him for the weekend; the guy who didn't know that he loved dinosaurs and it wasn't just some passing interest and if he doesn't make it as a football player, Matty wants to go somewhere and dig for bones.

"Did he and mama love each other?" Matty then asks, hoping his grandpa will say _something_ to something he asks.

Hershel then nods. Slowly. "They loved each other as much as two sixteen-year-old kids can love one another. I'll always remember when you were born and him and your mama were in the hospital room with you. Jimmy held you and had tears in his eyes. He loved you a lot."

Matty nearly snorts at that because he doubts it but he knows better than to do that in front of his grandpa. Hershel is a big softie towards his kids and grand-kids but he doesn't tolerate disrespect – no matter how understandable it is in this particular situation.

"So, what happened then?" Matty asks, frowning.

Hershel exhales a deep breath. "Your mama wanted him to keep his plans. He was going off to college. He had a scholarship and mama didn't want him to give that up. And it was hard on both of them but they did love you, Matty."

Matty just keeps staring at him. He finds it hard to believe.

"And slowly, the distance was taking a toll and Jimmy met someone else and…" he trails off then, as if he's not quite sure how to word any of this but Matty can fill in the blanks. He's not a stupid kid and he knows enough.

His first dad went off and met someone else and married her and she hated that he had a son and his first dad started pulling back from him until he was hardly in the picture before he signed papers, removing himself completely from it. And now, he's married with a kid and he has everything he's always wanted. There's never been any room for Matty in the life he's got for himself.

And normally, Matty wouldn't be thinking about this. Why would he? He's got a dad. And his dad is the best dad he could ever ask for. His dad loves him and wants him and what more can Matty ask for than that? But then, his first dad came to watch him play at his game and now, Matty can't stop thinking about him.

He hears a truck coming up the dirt road to the farm and Matty turns his head, seeing that it's his dad, returning from the prison but he's a lot earlier than usual. He's usually gone for hours and comes back just in time for dinner. But it's just barely noon now.

His mama seems to be thinking the same thing because she comes out onto the front porch, having heard the truck, and Matty leaves the barn to walk to the house, looking over his shoulder to make sure that Otter is with him but he always is.

"Is everything alright?" Mama asks, coming down a step, frowning, worried, as dad steps from the truck, slamming the door a little too hard behind him.

"Got a call on my way there. Knows I come and visit 'im every Sunday," dad said and Matty comes to stand up on the steps, too, as dad stands on the ground at the bottom.

"What's happened with Merle?" Mama asks, still frowning, still looking so worried.

Dad shakes his head, his hands on his hips, his eyes staring hard at the ground. He then lifts his head and looks at both mama and Matty. "Got 'imself locked up in solitary confinement for the next week. No visitors." And as he says it, he sounds so angry and Matty can see the muscles twitch in his face as he clenches his teeth tightly together. Sometimes, when it comes to Uncle Merle, dad gets so angry towards him.

Matty wonders if his first dad had another son – the son he's always wanted – and Matty wonders if he'll ever get to meet the kid. His brother or sister. Matty knows he won't though. His first dad doesn't want any part of him in his life so why couldn't Matty stop thinking about him and the little kid?

Matty wonders if he'll always be an only kid. Mama has Aunt Maggie and Uncle Shawn and dad has Uncle Merle but dad wants to kill his older brother most of the time and it seems like mama and Aunt Maggie and Uncle Shawn are always having stupid disagreements with each other. It seems like having a brother or sister means nothing more than always fighting with them.

And if that's all it really is, Matty doesn't want to meet his first dad's kid and he's perfectly fine being on his own with dad and mama.

…

"Matty," Mama knocks on the bedroom door even though it's wide open and Matty's on his bed, reading a book for his monthly book report he has due that Friday. This time, it's a biography on Walter Payton, the best running back ever for the Chicago Bears and one of the best running backs ever in the NFL. Uncle Shawn and Coach T both tell him that he can be the next Walter Payton if he wants and Matty knows they both mean that when they say that to him.

Mama smiles when she sees him and comes to sit down on the side of the bed. Matty closes the book and sits up, looking at her. Dad comes into the room then, too, giving them both small smiles before pulling the chair out from the desk and sitting down. Matty knows immediately that something is going on for both of them to be in here like this but he knows he's not in trouble because they're both smiling at him.

"What?" Matty asks then, completely confused because he has no idea what's going on. His parents normally don't act weird like this – not like some other parents. Like Tavon's mom will make him call her three times a day from the school's front office and Tavon will tell her whether or not he saw his dad standing outside.

Mama smiles then and reaches a hand out, brushing some hair off his forehead. He's always hated his hair. It's curly and blonde and more than one kids on the football field has told him that he looks like a doll.

"Your dad and I wanted to talk with you. We wanted you to be the first to know before we told anyone else," mama says and she's still smiling but Matty knows his mama and he can tell that she's a little nervous right now, too.

And Matty's not sure why but he looks at mama and then dad and then back at mama and he feels a heaviness in his stomach – like the chicken and rice casserole with fresh bread they ate for dinner that night isn't digesting right with him.

"Matty," mama says and Matty stares at her, waiting, though he's pretty sure he doesn't want to hear this. "Your dad and I are going to have a baby. In a few months, you're going to be big brother to a little sister or little brother." She says it with a smile on her face and Matty can't do anything but stare at her and he hears a roaring in his ears as if he's suddenly falling backwards.

A baby. They're going to have a baby. They don't want just him anymore. No one wants him. His first dad didn't. He went off and married someone else and had another baby with her and forgot all about Matty. And now, mama and dad are doing the same thing. They have him but he's not enough. He's not good enough and he doesn't make them happy enough. So they're moving on to try and get the baby they actually want.

He feels tears. He doesn't mean for them to come but he can't stop them and soon, they're burning his eyes and splashing down his cheeks and his mama is touching him.

"Matty-" she starts to say and he can hear the worry in her tone but he doesn't care.

Soon enough, she won't be worried about him anymore. Not when there's a baby around. Matty will wonder who will take him in this time. When his first dad left his life, his second dad stepped in but now, who's going to be next?

Everyone likes him until something better comes along.

"Hey, kid," dad says gently, using the nickname he used to use for him all of the time and he's kneeling on the floor next to the bed.

More tears are falling and Matty can't stop them. He doesn't want to cry in front of them. He wants them to know that he doesn't care. They can go and have a baby. They can have a dozen babies to replace Matty. He doesn't care. He really doesn't. This is just how the way things go. So why can't he stop crying?

He doesn't say anything to them. He doesn't look at them either. All he does is push himself from the bed and run past them. They can't catch them. Otter's in the backyard but Matty doesn't stop for him. He throws open the front door and runs down the street, hearing his mama and dad hurry after him, calling his name. But Matty doesn't stop and they can't catch him. There's a reason he's one of the fastest running backs for his age bracket in the state of Georgia. No one can catch him.

…

He runs down the road and doesn't go into the woods. His dad can track him if he goes in the woods but sticking to black asphalt and sidewalks, they won't be able to find him. He's not sure where he's going. He just knows he's going to keep running until he needs to stop and catch his breath. He can run for a while though and he wonders where he'll wind up. He stays away from going where his family lives. The farm. Aunt Maggie and Uncle Glenn's house. Tavon's house. They'll look for him in all of those places and he's not ready to go back home yet.

Matty knows he can't run forever. Eventually, he has to go home. He has a long division test on Wednesday and they've just started learning cursive and he has to finish reading his book for his report on Friday. And he has football practices and football games and he knows he has to go home.

He stops next to a field to catch his breath, horses on the other side of the fence, eating grass and lazily flicking their tails. He's stopped crying but his cheeks are still damp and his eyes ache a little. He looks up and down the road. He's not too sure where he is. Some back one-lane country road that makes up so much of Georgia. The sun is setting and it's a chilly night and he realizes that he ran out of the house in his green practice shorts, a white tee-shirt, his socks and no shoes. Now, he definitely has to go home. He can't get sick and he needs to take better care of his feet.

Mama and dad are going to be so furious with him and it will only make having a baby to replace him look even better to them.

He can hear a car slowly approaching and turning to look up the road, he sees two headlights coming his way. Once it's closer, he sees that it's a Sheriff's car and once it sees him and stops, Matty sees Deputy Walsh behind the wheel. Matty sighs heavily. He must not have run as far as he had been hoping he would.

Shane Walsh is one of his dad's closest friends and he's over at the house whenever dad and mama have people over and he's in the bleachers at his games a lot of the time. He's always been nice to him and mama and he used to play football, too, and Matty has always liked him. There were times – before dad and mama were together – when mama would be so sad and Shane would always be able to get her to smile or laugh. For that alone, Matty would always like this man.

Shane stops next to the hood of the car and looks at him, his eyes scanning him over and Matty knows he's looking for visible damage. "You alright?" He then asks.

Matty actually thinks it over for a moment and then, he nods. "I'm not hurt," he says though he wonders how true that sentence actually is. He _is_ hurt – just not on the outside. But that doesn't matter. Why does it matter? He's nine-years-old and his parents are trading him in for a newer model. Just thinking about it like that, he feels a fresh batch of tears sting his eyes and he blinks quickly and stares down at the road so Shane can't see them.

"Your parents are scared out of their minds. Your dad can't even get his head on straight to go tracking after you," Shane says and Matty doesn't know what to say to that so he doesn't say anything. "Come on. Let's get you home."

As Matty walks to the passenger door, he hears Shane talk into his radio on his shoulder, telling Sheriff Grimes that he's found him and they're coming home.

"You shouldn't run away like that, Matty," Shane says as he turns the car around and heads back in the direction he has just come from. "Pretty sure you added twenty years to both of your parents tonight."

Matty doesn't say anything. He just stares down at the computer hooked from the dashboard that lets the cops look up names when they pull someone over.

"Your parents love you, you know that?" Shane asks, glancing at him.

Matty just shrugs.

Shane smirks a little. "Shoot, you _should_ know that. Not too many things are that certain in this life but there are a few things about your family that are damn near written in stone. Your mama bakes the cupcakes in the state. Your dad can track a buck ten miles in the rain and still get a bolt in it, you're going to be playing in the NFL someday and no two parents love their kid more than your parents love you."

Matty finally lifts his head and looks at the man driving, his eyes forward to the road. Shane says it in a firm tone that makes Matty think there's little room for arguing. He notices a few tears have leaked out and he wipes at his cheeks. He looks down to his lap, his hands resting on his thighs.

"Mama's having a baby," Matty says quietly. "They don't want me anymore."

"What in the hell are you talking about?" Shane asks and Matty's not looking at him but he can hear the frown on the man's face. "You think them having a baby means they don't want you anymore? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Hell, if anything, it means they're having a baby because they love each other and they love _you_. Love you so much they want to have another kid just like you."

Matty's silent to that. He hadn't thought of it like that.

And he wonders why he _hadn't_ thought of it like that. His mama and dad weren't like his first dad. They were nothing like Jimmy. They loved him. He had been loved his entire life by his mama. She had done anything and everything for him. And dad… since they first time they met, living across the hall in the same apartment building, dad had shown how much he loved Matty, too. He even adopted Matty and gave him his last name and he didn't have to do that. He had wanted to do it.

He had a choice and he chose to have Matty as his son.

Shane pulls into the driveway of the house and Matty sees that the lights are on and the front door is open and mama and dad are standing on the front porch with Grandma and Sheriff Grimes. They all look when the patrol car pulls into the driveway behind the Sheriff's car and they all watch as Matty gets out. And dad rushes to him, skipping over the porch steps and landing on the ground and Matty runs to him and it doesn't matter that he's way too old for it. He's always been small for his age and he doesn't care about that right now anyway. Dad lifts him up in his arms and squeezes him so tightly, it almost hurts but Matty doesn't care. He closes his eyes and squeezes him back.

And then mama's there and dad sets him back down on his feet. Tears are streaming down her cheeks as she wraps him up in her arms and hugs him as tightly as she can. Matty closes his eyes and hugs her and feels dad's arms around both of them and Matty can feel the tiniest baby bump underneath his mama's sweater. He presses against it.

He's going to be the best big brother that he can be. He swears it.

…

Everyone has a pre-game ritual. Superstitious, yes, but none of them ever derive from what has become theirs.

Sammy eats two Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies before a game. Never one. Never three. Exactly two. Tavon wears the same socks every week and he never lets his mom wash them until after the last game of the season. Henry does fifteen jumping jacks, counting backwards, and then fifteen pushups, counting forwards. And Matty has buds in his ears, listening to "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" by AC/DC on repeat, as he does his warm-ups. It gets his heart pounding and his body wanting to run fast and hit something hard and it's the perfect song to listen to before games. His Uncle Shawn had downloaded it for him and put it on a tiny I-pod for him.

When him and Tavon walk onto the field for the coin toss with a couple of other kids from the opposing team they're playing that afternoon, Matty's eyes go up towards the stands, seeing his family – his eyes honing in on his mama and his dad. And both are wearing green and smiling as they watch him. Matty wants to wave but he has to set a certain mood and waving at his parents will crack that. It's kind of awesome to think that at this time next year, there will be a little baby in those stands, too. His little brother or sister, cheering him on like the rest of their family.

He doesn't look to the side of the stands because he knows he's there. He doesn't know how he knows. He just does. One of these days, maybe he'll tell dad or mama about it or maybe he'll go up to him on his own and ask him why he's here. Why, after all of this time, is he suddenly coming to all of his games?

But Matty's not going to ask. Not today. Today, he's got a game to win and he only cares about his _real_ dad and his mama being there, watching him and cheering him on every week. As long as he still has them, he doesn't care about much more than that.

…

* * *

 **Thank you very much for reading and please take a moment to leave a review!  
**


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm not even going to lie - a stupid and pointless chapter - but I have such a strong image of the last chapter and can't wait to get to writing it. I'm going to finish this story (7 chapters) and Jellyfish (4 or 5 chapters) before I continue work on _If I Loved You_ (the love for that story continues to surprise me) and start work on _Band-Aids and Coconut Cake_. Also, I've already had an idea for a follow-up one-shot to _Fifty-Four Days_. So much to write. So little time. **

* * *

…

 **Part Six.**

Her husband doesn't want her anymore. That's painfully obvious. And how can she expect him to when she has a volleyball taped to her body? She's fat and disgusting looking and how can she honestly expect Daryl to look at her and be attracted to her?

Tavon asked Matty to sleep over on Friday night and Michonne would get them to the football game on Saturday morning and Beth had been so excited at the idea of being alone with Daryl in the house. Just the two of them. She asked Maggie to come shopping with her and Beth hadn't bought anything skimpy or slutty – that's just not her style no matter how badly she wants to have sex with her husband. But she buys a black negligee of satin and lace and it makes her feel beautiful and not too pregnant.

She changes into it and then sits up in bed, smiling at him as he comes into the bedroom after locking the doors up downstairs. And Daryl smiles back and strips down to his boxer shorts and then… nothing. Absolutely nothing. He climbs into bed and kisses her on the cheek, murmuring a good night before he turns off the lamp and lays down and minutes later, his soft snores already fill the bedroom.

Beth sits there and looks at him in disbelief for a moment and then down at the negligee she's wearing and she feels so stupid. So completely and utterly stupid. And she has never felt more hideous than she does in that moment because she's pregnant and her husband doesn't even look at her anymore, let alone kiss her and want to have sex with her. Ever since that stripped turn pink with positive, Daryl has shown her time and time again that he has no interest in her.

And if that's really the truth, why marry her at all in the first place and get her pregnant?

As he sleeps and snores beside her, Beth can't help it. Tears flood her eyes and stream down her cheeks and she knows it wasn't like this when she was pregnant with Matty. She had been just a teenager then, too scared and worried about such an uncertain future to think about anything else. She had just thought that this pregnancy would be different. A little better. She has a husband now. A man who loves her completely – at least that what she had thought. A man who would stand by her through these turbulent months and even though Daryl hasn't left her side, he's certainly acting like a man who doesn't necessarily want to be there.

Daryl doesn't stir as Beth slips from the bed. She takes the negligee off as quickly as she can and goes into the bathroom, throwing it into the trashcan in there. It had been a stupid idea. She doesn't wear things when she doesn't have a volleyball attached to her body. Why did she think that wearing it now would have ever been a good idea?

She wipes at her cheeks, not even able to look at her reflection, and she goes back into the bedroom, getting herself dressed in yoga pants and an oversized sweatshirt. He still doesn't wake as she tugs on some shoes and leaves the bedroom. Otter is sleeping in the hallway as he usually does – when not sleeping in Matty's bedroom – and the dog instantly wakes, pushing himself up on his legs, his tail wagging. Beth gives him an absent-minded rub on his head as she passes and heads down the stairs. When she can't sleep and has too much on her mind, she bakes and right now, she feels like she can bake all night.

"Stay," she gives the quiet order to Otter after he walks her to the front door and grabbing her keys, she leaves, stepping out into the night that's quiet except for the crickets hiding the darkness.

She considers driving but she has too much energy and she doesn't want the car engine to wake Daryl up. Her bakery isn't that far away so she just starts walking, hoping that the cool fall night will help cool her down, too, and she hopes that she'll stop crying, too. She has a son and a husband and she loves them more than anything and she knows they love her, too – at least, she thinks she knows – but right now, she just feels completely and utterly alone.

Arriving at Beth's Bakery, she unlocks the front door and stepping into her shop, she turns and immediately locks the door behind her again. The cases are empty – she sells out nearly every day – and if she doesn't, she takes the leftover cupcakes over to the auto-garage or to the hair salon in town or animal shelter; a different business in town whenever she has some, wanting to share with everyone.

She walks around the counter and heads into the small baking area in back, flipping on the overhead light. It's almost ten and she has no plan on leaving the rest of the night. She'll be able to do all of the baking now and she knows she'll still have the energy for when the bakery opens at ten the next morning.

She opens one of the refrigerators and starts taking out everything she will need. She bakes six different kinds of cupcakes each day and in the fall, three times a week, she makes a special: pumpkin spice cupcake with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting. She gets working on those first and she goes through the steps, all of her recipes memorized and something she'd be able to do with her eyes closed, but right now, she really needs to concentrate on baking and not think of anything else because if she thinks of anything right now, she's just going to burst into tears.

Daryl had wanted a baby. They had talked about it and it was something they had both wanted. He told her that if they could have a baby like Matty, he'd want a dozen. And Beth remembers thinking when he had said that of how lucky she was that she had found a man who loved her and her son as much as Daryl did.

And she was so excited when she took the test and her pregnancy was confirmed. She was so ready to have another baby; _his_ baby. And she wants a little daughter and she knows no one's life is perfect but God, she had just thought hers would be so close.

She never saw _this_ coming. Daryl not wanting her anymore. They had certainly had their ups and downs and that is putting it lightly. But things have been good for them for so long, Beth just stupidly thought that things would keep staying good for them. It never crossed her mind that Daryl would find her so disgusting while she is pregnant.

She bakes three dozen pumpkin cupcakes and they are cooling on the counter as she begins work on the cinnamon cream cheese frosting. It's just after midnight and she misses coffee so much but she's listening to Ella Fitzgerald on the radio and she's humming along and between that and baking, she's able to be distracted for a while.

But of course, that's when there is a knock on the front glass door and she jumps a little, spinning towards it and seeing Daryl on the other side, staring at her. She stares back and for a moment, she is so tempted to just ignore him even though she knows that won't do anything and it's not like as if he'll just leave. But she knows that will never happen and Daryl will just stand out there all night if that's what he has to do.

After another moment, she wipes her hands on a nearby dishtowel and comes to the front door, not looking at him as she unlocks the door, and she immediately turns again, returning to the kitchen, trusting him to lock the door behind him again. She returns to making her frosting and he comes into the kitchen, not saying anything, simply looking at her; studying her like she's a damn set of damn tracks in the damn woods.

"What?" She snaps, not able to help herself but she shouldn't have to apologize. She's pregnant, hurt and horny and her emotions and hormones are all over the place. Daryl probably already knows that though. He should have read that in his stupid book.

He shrugs and his arms are crossed over his chest and she _refuses_ to look at his biceps.

"I ain't the one who left the house in the middle of the night, scaring the shit out of my spouse when they wake up and see you're not next to 'em," he comments.

Beth scoffs. "So, you even noticed that I was gone?" She asks him.

Daryl just keeps looking at her and doesn't say anything else. Beth shakes her head to herself and putting the bowl back on the stand, she turns the mixer on, the whirring sound making sure that they won't be able to have a conversation; not that she and Daryl will talk this through. There's nothing to talk about. He has more than made his opinion on her and being with her crystal clear.

She doesn't look at him again but she can feel his eyes on her. He's doing nothing. Just standing there, looking at her, and she flicks the mixer off.

"What?" She snaps again but she doesn't give him a chance to answer. "Why did you marry me?" She asks and it's not at all what he's expecting and the surprise on his face is evident to her. "If you're so disgusted with me, why did you marry me, Daryl? Why didn't you just keep living across the hall and ignoring me and screwing Amy?"

"Beth-" he starts to say but he's too stunned to say anything much after her name.

Beth storms past him into the little room she has turned into her office. Daryl follows after her, staring at her, still having no idea what's going on and his confusion is just pissing her off because why doesn't he know? Isn't it obvious?

And she can feel the shift happening in her body. Her anger dissolves and she bursts into tears before she can stop it. Daryl doesn't hesitate now. He steps towards her and wraps his strong arms around her, holding her close.

"Why don't you want me?" She cries into his shoulder.

"Beth," he says her name and she thinks that's all he's going to say and his lips are turned to her hair. "You're all I want. You know that."

She pulls her head back so she can look at him and she can imagine how disgusting she looks with tears and snot. She shakes her head. "No, I don't know that, Daryl. You didn't even look at me tonight. You haven't looked at me in so long and I… I _need_ you to look at me."

Daryl's eyes don't move from her. He's certainly looking at her right now.

"I see you all the time, Beth," he finally speaks in a low voice, quiet and slow as if he's trying to pick just the right words to say to her in this moment. "Definitely saw you tonight and what you were wearin'."

Beth immediately opens her mouth to ask him then _why_ he's staying away from her and does he have any idea what that's starting to do to her? Clearly, she's not handling his distance from her well if she's at her bakery in the middle of the night, baking cupcakes.

Daryl shuffles forward to close what little space is between them and his hands slide over the sides of the bump between them. "I read that chapter but at the end, it said to consult your doctor and I'm just waitin' for our next appointment. I was gonna ask 'im durin' our next appointment."

Beth opens her mouth to tell him that he's being absolutely ridiculous – as she's been telling him again and again during these past few months – but he's staring down at her bump and his hands are gently rubbing against it.

"Can't stand the idea of anythin' happenin' to you or to Nibblet and I'm not gonna be the one to do anythin' to either of you," he says.

"Daryl," she says his name softly and lifts her hands to frame his face, lifting it slightly so their eyes are able to meet. She swallows a lump in her throat. "If you're not attracted to me while I'm looking like this…"

And she can actually see the moment realization sparks across his face and he gets it and she knows that she thinking he doesn't want her anymore has never crossed his mind. He is such an idiot. A frustrating, too-sweet idiot and she absolutely loves him. She feels like she's going to start crying again, just from knowing that he knows now, but before she can, Daryl swoops in and his hands grasp her hips as his mouth covers hers. He gives her a hard kiss that seems to immediately steal all of her breath and he begins gently pushing her backwards towards her desk.

She instantly wraps her arms around his broad shoulders and she returns his kisses with kisses of her own because it has been way too long since Daryl has kissed her like this; kissed her like she's not about to break at any minute; kiss her like he really wants her. And right now, as he gently lifts her up and sets her down on the edge of the desk behind her, he presses himself against her between her spread thighs and she can feel just how much he wants her right now.

Beth's just glad cupcakes aren't in the oven right now. She wants no interruptions.

…

"You a'right?" Daryl asks as he sits in her desk chair and she's in his lap, her head resting sleepily on his chest and his hand is resting on her bump, able to feel their baby moving around in little movements inside.

"Mmmm," she hums pleasantly with a smile, nestling closer to him. She feels completely boneless and she's never felt better. "I feel much better than alright," she says and she's not looking at his face but she can hear him smiling a little, too. She closes her eyes and his hand rubs little circles on her belly. "And the baby is just fine, too. See?"

"Mm-hmm," he nods. "'m sorry, Beth," he then sighs and she opens her eyes, tilting her head up to look at him. "I read in the book that you would probably feel unattractive or unwanted and I just never thought…" he trails off then, trying to get his thoughts straight. He settles his eyes on her face. "I never wanted to make you feel that way."

Beth gives him a little smile but she doesn't tell him that it's alright. He was really doing a number on her head but at least he's aware of it now and it doesn't matter that she knows that Daryl loves her and is attracted to her. The _pregnant_ her didn't know that and that's really all she's needed for the past few months from him. She's just needed her husband to make love to her and make her feel beautiful again.

"She's bein' really active tonight," Daryl then comments, his lips resting against Beth's temple and his hand never lifting from her belly.

Beth smiles at that. "She?" She asks.

For the past few visits to the doctor, they have tried to tell the sex from the ultrasound but each time, their baby has stubbornly been turned in such a way that they haven't been able to tell. They still have yet to know what they are having and Annette and Maggie are getting so impatient with finding out, they have begun buying things in both blue and pink just to be covered no matter what Nibblet turns out to be.

"Jus' a guess," Daryl shrugs a shoulder then. "Jus' a feelin' I'm gettin'. Would make sense for us to have a girl. Nothin' terrifies me more than havin' a daughter and it'd be the universe's way of just screwin' with me."

She laughs softly and pulls her head back to look up at him. "So, what do you think?"

And he knows what she's referring to and he doesn't ask for clarification. He sighs then as if he's tired of it but she knows he's just acting. "I don't hate it," he then admits and Beth can't help but beam at that.

"Good. Because I _really_ love it."

"Yeah, I know you do," he gives his head a nod. "I was thinkin' of the playground and all the names kids could taunt her with but I couldn' think of any. Even got Merle to help."

Beth laughs, imagining Daryl visiting his brother in prison and both of them trying to think up of cruel nicknames that their child might be exposed to if they name them something in particular. And actually – even though she loves Merle – Beth thinks that Merle is the perfect person with who to try and brainstorm taunts.

"And what's the verdict?" She asks.

His hand is still rubbing circles over the bump and he gives a nod. "If we have a daughter, we can name her that."

She smiles and stretches her neck up, kissing his jaw. "Ophelia Dixon," she says as if wanting to taste it out loud. "Ophelia Ruth Dixon," she then tries again.

"Ruth?" He raises an eyebrow at that.

"I like old-fashioned names," she smiles with a shrug.

"Clearly," he almost snorts and then let out a chuckle as she elbows him playfully in the chest. He moves his arms and wraps them around her, holding her tightly to him. "'m sorry for the way I've been actin' towards you," he then says in a low voice.

"You don't have to be anymore," Beth shakes her head and rests it to his chest. "I know that you've just been wanting to look out for me and the baby. The _rational_ side of my brain knows that. Being pregnant, though, really doesn't make me rational," she says and she smiles up at him but Daryl's not smiling.

Instead, he's just staring down at her, his eyes dark and heavy. He lifts a hand then to the side of her face, brushing hair back, his thumb sweeping across her cheek. She nearly closely her eyes at his touch but she kept them open so she could look at him.

"I love you more than anythin' in this world, Beth," he said, still in that quiet, low voice of his. "I don't want you to ever forget that."

She shakes her head and she feels like smiling but for some reason, it feels inappropriate at the moment. So instead, she covers his hand with hers. "I know you do, Daryl. And I'll never forget that. And now, you know, pregnant sex is a very good thing."

He leans in and presses the softest kiss to her lips and her eyes flutter closed. When she opens them again, she's not surprised to see that he's staring at her already.

"Want to help me frost cupcakes?" Beth asks and with a little smile, Daryl nods.

…

Before they leave the bakery for the night, Beth makes a sign and hangs it in the door. _Closed Until Tuesday. The Pregnant Baker needs rest_. She knows everyone will get a kick out of that and she and Daryl carry two-dozen pumpkin cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting home with them. He hadn't driven either when he woke up and realized that she wasn't next to him anymore though he quickly figured out where she would be and had walked, following her footsteps.

It is almost three by the time they get home and Beth falls onto their bed, her head hitting the pillow and her eyes instantly closing. She feels Daryl get in beside her and he rolls towards her, his body warm and heavy but she doesn't mind and she smiles when he rests his head on her shoulder.

Daryl has always been able to fall asleep so easily and within minutes, she can hear his breathing out as he exhales steadily. And she's tired and listening to him sleep and breathe, it helps pull her into her own slumber with a smile on her face; a smile of contentment because she's finally had sex with her husband.

When her eyes open again, the room is bright with sunlight and birds are singing outside. She hears barking and she can tell that it's Otter out in the backyard, probably being taunted by some squirrel up in the tree. Beth turns her head on the pillow and sees that it's just a little past eight. She knows she should feel more tired but she oddly feels wide awake this morning. Matty's game is at ten. Usually, she has to miss his games if they're scheduled in the morning but today, her bakery is closed and she'll get to go watch her son and come bearing cupcakes for everyone.

Daryl isn't in bed but she's not surprised. Even getting just a few hours of sleep, Daryl has always been an early riser. She listens to him for a moment and finally, she can smell the faint whiff of bacon cooking floating up the stairs. Beth pulls herself from bed, which is becoming more awkward and difficult each morning, and she makes her way to the bathroom, stopping though as she passes the chair in the corner and the black negligee she had tossed into the trash can the night before is now carefully draped over the cushion. She smiles faintly to herself and lets her fingers glide down the front of it, feeling the cool, almost slippery material, before she continues on into the bathroom.

She takes a shower, lingering, scrubbing herself with her pineapple body wash and lilac-scented shampoo. When she steps out, she goes back across the hall and changes into a fresh pair of yoga pants and a too-big green Gators sweatshirt. She combs and dries her hair and puts it into her usual braids, pinning them to the top of her head. She feels the baby – Ophelia, she thinks with a smile, or John – moving within, ready to start their day, too, and when she comes down the stairs, Beth feels like a new person. It's amazing what a little loving is able to do for a person.

Daryl is standing at the stove and he hears her immediately when she enters. He looks at her with a little smile and she beams in return. "Mornin'. I made bacon."

"I can probably eat this whole plate by myself," Beth says, taking it from where it's resting on the counter and she carries it to the table, taking a strip as she sets it down and moaning as she takes a bite.

"I already had a couple of strips so the rest's yours," Daryl tells her.

Beth goes back to him and stands on her toes, kissing his cheek, before going to the refrigerator for the carton of orange juice.

"'m makin' some fried eggs. Or do you want scrambled?" He asks as she slips pieces of bread into the toaster.

"Fried," she smiles at him and as soon as Daryl has her answer, he cracks a couple of eggs on the side of the pan and begins frying them in the bacon grease left over. "So, what are we going to do for the rest of our day after the game?" She asks him, going back to the table for another couple strips of bacon. Otter is scratching at the back door and she opens it, the dog eagerly bounding into the kitchen and then seeing that Beth is eating bacon, he's instantly sitting at her feet, begging for a piece.

"Nothin' planned," Daryl shrugs, grabbing a plate and scooping the two fried eggs out. He holds it out for her to take and she does with a smile. He then cracks two more eggs and begins frying his own. "You wanna do somethin'?" He looks to her.

"We should go to the mall over in Brighton," Beth says and almost wants to immediately laugh at Daryl's expression. She knows that that place definitely isn't her husband's favorite place to be. A large two story mall crammed with stores and people. "You, me and Matty can go to that baby store they have there and buy a few things," she suggests.

Although he seems perfectly fine with the baby – and even excited for his little brother or sister to get here – Beth wants to make sure Matty is as involved as possible with preparations for the new baby. She doesn't want him to ever feel like he's being ignored. This is their family and they should all have a say in anything from now on.

Daryl visibly swallows and then nods. "Yeah. We can do that," he says slowly.

"We won't stay long," she is quick to promise. "Just the baby store and home again."

Daryl scoops his own eggs onto the other plate resting near him and he looks at her, shaking his head. "Nah. We'll stay as long as you want, Beth. Shouldn' rush through lookin' at things for Nibblet."

They sit down at the table and eat their eggs and more bacon and Beth keeps looking at him and wonders if she'll ever get used to just how sweet her husband can be to her.

…

Everyone is so happy to see Beth at the game that morning – not to mention ecstatic when they see that she's brought cupcakes with her. She hands Daryl one of the dozen to hand out to their family and friends who they always sit in the stands with and she then carefully, with the remaining two dozen, makes her way down to the end of the field where the Gators are warming up before game start.

"Mama bear, this is the best reward for these boys," T-Dog says to her with a grin, taking the plastic containers from her and the boys are already all crowding around for one. " _After_ they win this game," he then adds and the boys all groan.

Beth laughs and Matty comes up to her as the other boys begin to disperse – some still begging T-Dog for a cupcake and the others returning to their warm-up drills.

"Hey, sweetie," she smiles down at him. She wants to hug him but she doesn't in front of his friends and not when he's wearing his uniform and pads already. She knows how kids can be at this age and the last thing she wants to do is embarrass Matty in front of his teammates or the opposing team. "Did you have fun with Tavon last night? Did you think his mom for having you over?"

"Yes and yes," he answers with a nod. "Are you okay?" He then asks, looking at her closely, and she melts into a smile.

He may have just turned ten but ever since Beth and Daryl told him of the pregnancy and especially since she began showing, Matty will ask her every day if she's okay. It's incredibly sweet and makes her heart patter and he's always been protective of her but he certainly gets his intense protective trait from his dad.

She can't help it. Beth leans in and kisses his head. "I'm wonderful. Are you okay?"

Matty grins and nods his head. "I'm okay," he answers and she laughs lightly.

"Good luck out there today," she tells him.

"Don't need it," he instantly shoots it down with a shake of his head and she purses her lips to keep from laughing. And he definitely gets his cockiness from his uncle – both of his uncles.

She gives him and the rest of the boys and coaches a wave before she turns and starts heading back to the bleachers. She can see her family and Aaron and Eric and Michonne sitting with them as always, all eating and enjoying her cupcakes, Otter trying to eat the one straight out of Glenn's hand. Daryl looks and meets her eyes and she gives him a smile. She never gets to come to morning games and she's so happy to be here today.

After last night, she really is certain now. Things are as perfect as things can be.

And even though she tells herself that she shouldn't think things like that – not wanting to jinx herself – the thought remains in her head and burrows itself down into her mind and Beth has a feeling it won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

…

* * *

 **Thank you very much for reading and please review!  
**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thank you very much to those who have read and enjoyed this little story even while I was feeling doubt about the whole thing.**

* * *

…

 **Part Seven.**

Apparently, Beth is carrying low so most had been under the assumption that it's a boy. So when the baby is born, everyone except Beth and Daryl are surprised when she's a girl, promptly bestowed with the name of Ophelia Ruth Dixon.

The labor is a hard one. Matty's labor had been so fast, Beth hadn't had time to get drugs of any kind to help with the pain. This time, there is plenty of time because Beth is in labor for almost thirty hours before the doctor declares her ready to start pushing. By then, Beth can't wait to get the baby out and she crushes Daryl's hand in hers and she pushes as hard as she can, breaking for breaths and for the doctor to tell her to go again. And Ophelia makes her presence known to the world by screaming at the top of her lungs, demanding to be put back in.

Beth bursts into tears – these tears of joy and relief – when she sees her daughter for the first time and the doctor holds her up so both parents can get a good look at her. Daryl can do nothing but stare at the bloody mess that is their daughter and he's never seen something as beautiful and perfect.

"Cut the cord, dad?" The doctor smiles at him from behind his face mask and Daryl doesn't even hesitate in stepping forward, taking the surgical scissors from his hand and cutting where he's shown.

Ophelia is still crying and the nurse takes her away for a moment to clean her up some. Daryl looks back to Beth and she is crying and smiling and she's covered in sweat but he's never seen something as incredible as her. She's been a champ this whole time and he knows, without a doubt, that he wouldn't be able to do what she had just done. There's a reason women are meant to be the ones who deliver babies. They're the only ones who can handle doing it.

He returns to her side, where he's been for the past thirty hours and he leans in, kissing her forehead, brushing sweaty hair back from her sweaty face for her, and she smiles tiredly up at him. Words clump in his throat as he looks down at her because what can he possibly say to her that could completely express everything he's feeling right then?

"Here she is," the nurse smiles, coming back with Ophelia swaddled in a white blanket, and she passes the baby into Beth's arms.

"Seven pounds, five ounces," the doctor tells them as he writes in his clipboard. "Ten fingers, ten toes and healthy lungs," he says with a chuckle.

Beth and Daryl haven't stopped looking at the baby, her cries finally quieting down now that she's in Beth's warm, safe arms and the baby has already learned that this woman is her mother. Daryl eases himself down on the bed at Beth's side, perching at the side, almost not wanting to blink as he stares down at the little baby in case he misses a second of her. He wonders if he'll ever blink again.

"You have quite the fan club outside in the waiting room," the nurse smiles as she and the doctor begin cleaning Beth and the room up around them.

"Oh, they can't see me yet," Beth is quick to say, looking up at Daryl.

"You look beautiful," is his immediate response and she just smiles and rolls her eyes while shaking her head. He reaches out and runs his thumb over Ophelia's tiny knuckles. Everything about her is so damn small and he feels like a fumbling giant.

"Here you go," Beth says, gently moving her arms, making the move to pass their daughter from her arms into his.

And Daryl wants to protest and tell her that he's not ready yet but a second later, he changes his mind and he's ready. He's been holding Matty since that kid was four and Ophelia's much smaller than a four-year-old but he has the general idea. He's had practice on Glenn and Maggie's daughters, too, when they were this size. There's no reason for him to be afraid of holding his own daughter.

Her eyes remain closed as he adjusts his arms so she's resting in them securely and comfortably and he's read in the book that she won't open her eyes for a bit longer and when she does, Daryl already knows they will be blue – as a lot of baby's eyes are but Daryl knows that they are going to stay blue.

He moves his eyes to Beth to see that she's watching them with a smile and tears in her eyes. He smiles a little in response. "Looks like an Ophelia," he says and she laughs.

"Alright. We are going to transfer Beth to her room and get her cleaned up and we're going to take the baby – just for a little bit – before you get settled again and we'll bring her back," the doctor tells them.

"You should go tell everyone while they're doing this," Beth says, looking back to Daryl.

And Daryl knows he should but he really doesn't want to leave her to go and do it. "Yeah," he agrees reluctantly and he leans down then, pressing a kiss to Beth's lips and slowly passing Ophelia back into her arms.

He waits until Beth and Ophelia are both wheeled out from the delivery room before he leaves, too, still wearing the blue scrubs he had to change into. He realizes how utterly exhausted he is as he heads down the hallway but he won't dare yawn. He's not the one who just pushed a watermelon through a Pringle's can – as Merle had once described labor and delivery to him; like Merle has any experience with something like this. For as many women as his brother's been with, it's always been a miracle that Merle doesn't have at least one illegitimate child running around, out in the world somewhere.

The nurse wasn't lying. Their family and friends are there, waiting for news, and Daryl wonders how long they've all been here. Not for thirty hours, he hopes. Matty – who has been staying on the farm for the past couple of days – sits next to his Uncle Shawn and they're watching highlights from the pro football games that day. Hershel, Annette, Maggie and Glenn are all there as is Rick, Lori, Shane and Amy.

"Hey," Daryl then says and almost wants to smile at how casual he is able to sound. Everyone's heads whip around the instant they hear him and he smiles a little. "It's a girl," he then tells them even though they already all know the sex and then they come rushing towards him, Daryl being swept up in a flurry of hugs, kisses and slaps on the back. Matty is there and Daryl wraps an arm tight around him, keeping him at his side.

"They're both gettin' cleaned up and gettin' comfortable in the room and then we're gonna take Matty in on his own 'fore everyone else," Daryl tells them and everyone nods with agreement.

"How's Beth?" Annette asks, tears glistening in her eyes, unshed.

And Daryl smiles again and nods her head. "She's amazin'."

…

Ophelia is a quiet baby – which isn't surprising to Beth.

"Look at who her father is," she teases Daryl with a smile.

She wakes them up about two times a night and is always smiling whenever she sees Beth, Daryl and Matty. They knew he would be but Matty is so good with her and as soon as he gets home, before he has to go to practice, he wants to hold Ophelia. He has already begun explaining football to her, sitting with her in his arms on Sundays, watching the games – usually the Panthers – and explaining plays and rules to her. And Ophelia seems to love her older brother, always having a smile for him, even when she's been fussy for most of the day before he comes home.

They take her to the prison to meet Merle. All of the guards know both Daryl and Beth by now and the guards all smile and make faces at the baby when they bring Ophelia the first time while sending the diaper bag through the x-ray machine. And Merle isn't permitted any physical contact but Beth holds the baby up to the glass and Merle puts a hand to it from his side, holding the phone to his ear with one hand and doing his best to blink quickly even though they can see the tears but pretend that they don't.

Beth loves watching Daryl with their daughter and she knows she'll never get tired of watching him and Ophelia interact with one another. He almost looks as the sort who wouldn't have children – let alone a daughter. Some would say he's intimidating looking – even his friends and family who know him. He looks too big and too gruff and even too rough around the edges to have a daughter, let alone hold a little baby in his big arms.

But he has always been so good with Matty. When they first met one another in their apartment building, living across the hall from one another, Daryl seemed far more comfortable with the little boy than he ever was with her. And then Maggie and Glenn had their twin daughters and Daryl never had a problem holding them, even when they were screaming their heads off, or changing their diapers. He, surprisingly, has always been so at ease around little kids.

And their daughter, of course, is no exception.

Sometimes, Beth will catch Daryl standing in the nursery, standing at the crib, just watching Ophelia sleeping as if he's afraid that he'll find that she's not really there at all. And sometimes, Beth will leave him alone with his thoughts – whatever those might be – but other times, she walk quietly up behind him; even though no matter how quietly she thinks she's walking, he always knows she's there and never looks surprised.

She smiles faintly at him and stands at his side and together, they look down into the crib where Ophelia is sleeping. Her eyes have stayed blue and her hair is already curly – just like Matty's is – but instead of blonde like her older brother's, hers is gaining a dark brown shade. She's a beautiful baby and Beth knows that nearly every parent thinks that about their child once they're born but Beth know it's the truth. Ophelia Ruth Dixon is such a beautiful baby and sometimes, Beth will find herself looking at her, too, like Daryl does. Just looking at her as if she's not real at all.

When she's two weeks old, they take her to her first Saturday football game. They sit on the bottom row so they don't have to climb up steps with her – Daryl's worried about someone, mainly him, dropping her – and their friends and family crowd around for the first few minutes, all wanting to get a look at her and wanting to hold her. They have dressed her in a festive green onesie and have bundled her up in a matching green coat.

"Little Gators fan already, huh?" Hershel smiles as he holds his newest grandchild in his arms, smiling down at her with pride and love shimmering in his eyes.

"She's a fan of any team her big brother 'll play for," Daryl answers, splitting his attention between his daughter and his son playing on the field.

Matty's having a good game – one of his best so far that season – rushing yards and scoring touchdowns and from the corner of his eye, Daryl can see a couple guys standing off away from the stands, on the sidelines, clipboards in their hands and their eyes set on the field. He recognizes one of the men as Jim, that man from St. Ignatius High School who had already expressed interest in Matty coming to play for the school.

He watches them for a moment and then looks to Beth, currently talking with Maggie and Annette about Ophelia's checkup with the doctor they have scheduled for next week and gently, he brings a hand to her arm, getting her attention. She looks at him and without a word, he tilts his head towards the two men. Beth looks at them for a moment and then, she gets to her feet. She is holding onto Otter's leash so where she goes, the pit-bull goes, too, and Daryl follows after both of them.

"Hello," Beth says to both men with a friendly smile once she reaches them. "Enjoying the game?" She asks.

"Hello again, Beth," Jim smiles at her. "Hi, Daryl," he says and holds out his hand and Daryl shakes, giving him a head nod. "Congratulations on the baby," he then says.

"Thanks," Daryl says and looks to the field as a roar of cheers rise from the Gators stands. Tavon has just made a pass to Sammy, who has scored his first touchdown of the season and his teammates on the field are crowded around him, slapping his helmet in celebration. Sammy is both the youngest on the team – having just met the age cutoff – and the smallest as well and everyone affectionately calls him Pip.

"Good game today. _Real_ good game," Jim comments.

"One of his best," Daryl hears himself say and he wonders if he should have Shawn here with them for talks like this because Daryl has no idea what to do. He is Matty's dad but that doesn't mean he knows squat about what is best for him when it comes to playing football and what he should do.

"Daryl and I haven't discussed anything with Matty," Beth informs Jim. "He's just coming off a break and we just want him to focus on having fun for the time being."

"We heard about that," the other man speaks up. "Is he alright?"

Daryl looks at the slightly heavy-set Hispanic man but Beth answers before he can.

"He just needed a break," Beth says as diplomatically as possible, not wanting to give too much away and Daryl agrees. It's no one else's business.

"Daryl, Beth, this is Joe Morales. He's the assistant coach at St. Ignatius and I wanted to bring him to a game to show Matty playing. Joe, this is Daryl and Beth Dixon, Matty's parents," Jim makes the introductions.

"You have an incredible son," Joe compliments with a small, genuine, smile.

"Thanks," Daryl says with a nod of agreement though he has absolutely nothing to do with Matty being as good at football as he is.

He doesn't know where Matty gets it from. Yes, his uncle Shawn was a great player in his day before busting up his knee and having to give it up but do talents like being good at a sport follow blood like that? Or does it come from someone closer? He wonders if the sperm donor was good at football. Beth's never mentioned it whether or not he was and it's just not something Daryl wants to know, to be honest.

It doesn't really matter where Matty got the talent from. Wherever it comes from, that kid works his ass off to keep it.

"If possible, we'd like the opportunity to come and talk with you both and with Matty as well about his future once he grows out of this league," Jim says. "I assume he'll be playing football in junior high."

Beth shrugs and nods. "I would assume so."

"Would it be possible to come talk with you?" Joe asks.

"Sure," Daryl nods before Beth can and she looks at him, clearly surprised.

Jim hands them a business card – to add to the other one he's already give them – and he promises that they'll be in contact with them within the next few days to set something up. Perhaps they could go for barbecue – his treat.

"That was a surprise," Beth smiles up at him as they walk back towards the bleachers.

Daryl shrugs. "Don't see the harm in talkin' to 'em. No one says Matty has to go there."

Beth thinks that over for a moment and then laughs a little with a shake of her head. "One of our kids is heading to college already and the other one will be right behind him before we know it."

Daryl's lips twitch a little at that and he puts an arm around Beth's shoulders, pulling her closer into his side. "Think you're gettin' jus' a lil' ahead of yourself," he comments and he's not alarmed when she's wiping at her cheeks, wet with tears. He knows her hormones are still all over the place. After reading the book through once, he read it through, cover to cover, a second time. Nothing is a surprise to him.

He squeezes his arm around her shoulders and kisses her on the head. "You should be lookin' on the bright side of this," he then says and Beth frowns up at him at that because he's not the sort to _ever_ look on the bright side of anything and he knows it, too, because his lips turn into a small smile at her expression. "We'll be gettin' a free barbecue dinner out of it."

It does the trick and the tears are forgotten as Beth laughs at that. He kisses her head again and her arm slides around his waist, holding onto him.

Back at the bleachers with their family and friends, Maggie is holding Ophelia but passes the baby back into her mama's arms when Beth sits down again.

"We getting pizza after this?" Glenn asks no one in particular because that's one of the things about Glenn they're all used to. He likes to think about where his next meal is coming from. And even though he owns a pizza parlor, he never seems to get sick of eating it. Maggie has joked that he'd eat it for all three meals if given the opportunity.

"Whatever you want, Glenn," Annette smiles at her son-in-law, which gets Maggie to immediately tell her that she's spoiling him and she needs to stop doing that because Maggie will not continue that treatment at home.

Beth looks down at Ophelia. Her eyes are open and she's blinking them up at Beth and Beth cradles her a little closer, smiling down at her. She will love Ophelia no matter what and will love whatever Ophelia does but she hopes, _really_ hopes, deep down, that Ophelia doesn't grow up to become an athlete. It is just too stressful.

…

As they do on every Saturday night, there are episodes of _Cops_ to watch and after they get home from the game and pizza, Matty goes upstairs to take a shower before coming back down to watch and Beth takes Ophelia upstairs as well to get the baby changed for bed and Daryl steps outside on the back deck, watching Otter immediately shoot for the tree in the back corner, barking his head at the squirrel that constantly torments him from the branches overhead.

He thinks of the week coming up and everything he's got going on. Martinez has been great with Ophelia's arrival and has approved of Daryl's schedule. Beth and him take alternating days, each taking turns and staying home with the baby while the other goes to work. He stays home on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Aaron has already called him, asking if he wouldn't mind coming over on Tuesday and take a look at the drain in the basement. It seems like it's clogging up and he and Eric don't want a flood in the basement and Daryl had immediately said he'd be there.

Daryl already knows that Aaron will try to pay him for helping him out. It won't matter to Aaron that their friends and Daryl doesn't charge for handy work like this. Aaron will try to pay him and Daryl will refuse. He already knows what he will want from Aaron instead. Beth's birthday is coming up and he wants to do something special. _Really_ , really special because this woman is his wife and just gave birth to his daughter and she puts up with him and she deserves to have the best birthday in her life.

He just doesn't have the first idea of what to do for it. And he's not going to ask Aaron because he's gay and the stereotype is all gays know how to do stuff like this. He's asking Aaron because Rick suggested he make Beth dinner – if it's not grilling meat or using a microwave, he's shit at cooking – and Shane had suggested taking her to a hotel for a night – which didn't sound that great to Daryl because they have a newborn and Beth won't want to leave her and Daryl's not too keen on the idea either and besides, taking Beth to a hotel doesn't sound special enough.

There's one idea in his head, in the way, _way_ back of his head and he can't stop thinking about it though he doesn't know if he'll really do it but maybe… maybe, he can get an application for _Cupcake Wars_ and fill it out with Beth's information.

"Dad!" Matty shouts from inside and Daryl is shaken from his thoughts.

He goes back into the house, Otter nearly knocking him over to beat him into the kitchen, and Matty's there, dressed in a black tee-shirt and red basketball shorts and his hair is damp from the shower. He's standing in front of the microwave, popping a bag of popcorn and Daryl goes to the refrigerator, getting them two cans of Coke.

Beth's in the living room now, Ophelia washed and changed in a fresh onesie, and Beth is feeding her a bottle of her breast milk. "Want to burp her?" She asks and he nods, setting the cans down on the coffee table and sitting down beside her on the couch.

Matty races into the living room and plops down in the armchair, the bowl of popcorn in his lap, and he turns on the television, Morris curled on the stand right in front of it, as he usually is, but they're used to watching shows with a cat-shaped body in the way and they don't get him to move. The _"Bad Boys"_ theme song begins to play as the episode just begins and Matty sings along as Ophelia finishes her bottle and Beth drapes the cloth over Daryl's shoulder before handing him the baby. Daryl pats her gently on the back, working on getting a burp out of her, and Beth leans forward, Matty stretching the bowl of popcorn for her to take.

Daryl listens to Matty as he tells Beth that the episodes in Florida are the best ones and Beth asks why and Matty proceeds to tell her all about the crazy episodes they've seen that he remembers from that state.

" _So_ many weird people live in Florida," he says. "They must migrate there or something." He pauses. "You said Uncle Merle lived in Florida for a while, right, dad?" He asks and Daryl grins at that.

Ophelia burps and he settles the baby in his arms, murmuring to her that she's the best little girl in the whole world. Beth settles against him and rests her head on his shoulder and Matty tosses Otter pieces of popcorn in the air; the dog eagerly catching them with his mouth.

It wouldn't seem much to other people. Staying in on a Saturday night, watching episodes of _Cops_ , of all things, on the television but Daryl smiles a little to himself over the whole thing because what the hell more can he ask for?

…

* * *

 **The End.**

 **Thank you very much for reading and please take a moment to review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Fluff. Fluff. And more fluff. I've been missing this little family lately so I decided to just write something and add it to this story.**

* * *

…

 **Part Eight.**

After a few short weeks, she and Ophelia already have a morning routine together. Beth has always been a morning person. Even when she was a young girl and had no reason to be up early. She has always preferred sunrises to sunsets and if she wakes up too late to see one, she will feel as if her entire day has already been wasted.

Daryl has always been a morning person, too, but he's also never had a crying infant to interrupt his sleep during the night and it's taking a while for him to get used to it. So when Beth gets up in the mornings, just as their bedroom is turning grey with the pre-dawn light, Daryl is still snoring softly away in their bed. And when Beth has finished going to the bathroom, washing her hands and face, brushing her teeth and hair, she goes into the bedroom next to theirs and Ophelia is starting to wake as well.

Beth smiles every single morning when she leans over the crib and sees her baby daughter. She is healthy and happy, beautiful and… perfect. Beth remembers how it was when Matty was this size. She was so young and so terrified, she wasn't really able to enjoy having a baby and being a mother. Every second of every day was spent, taking care of Matty and trying to keep her head above water. But this time, with Ophelia, it's different. This time, she's older and a little wiser, and she has a husband to help her with the burden and Beth feels like she is able to treasure every second rather than worrying about every second instead.

"And how did you sleep, my little Ophelia?" Beth asks as she lifts Ophelia from her crib and gives her a kiss on the head. Ophelia smiles a tired, gummy smile at her and blinks at her with her big blue eyes – the size inherited from her mom and the color an exact match of her dad's – and anytime Ophelia smiles, Beth smiles, too.

Each morning, she takes Ophelia to the changing table and sings to her softly as she changes her diaper and putting her into a fresh onesie. Beth admits that she went a little crazy when Ophelia was born and went shopping for the first time, looking at all of the absolutely adorable clothes she could buy for her baby girl. Again, with Matty, even with help from her parents, she had tried to be so mindful of the little money she had but with Ophelia, she has a bit more money now – she and Daryl are on a comfortable financial level with her cupcake shop and his promotion at the garage to manager – and between presents from family and friends and Beth shopping, Ophelia has a full wardrobe – that she'll grow out of in no less than six months.

Today, Beth changes her into a gray onesie with a picture of a strawberry and _Berry Cute_ written beneath that and she sings. " _Oh, Ophelia. You've been on my mind, girl, since the flood. Oh, Ophelia, heaven helps a fool who falls in love._ "

And Ophelia smiles as she always does when Beth sings to her.

Beth hoists her up in her arms and leaves the nursery, heading towards the stairs, and she peaks into the bedrooms as she passes. Daryl is still fast asleep because even though he's usually a light sleeper, he's usually the one to get up at Ophelia's two o'clock feeding and that keeps him passed out for a bit. Matty is still asleep, too, in his room, their pit-bull, Otter, sleeping on the floor just inside of his bedroom where he usually always sleeps if he's not stretched out in the hallway, tripping them in the dark.

Otter lifts his head when he sees her pass and within a second, he's on her heels, following Beth down the stairs into the kitchen. They have a routine, too, and Beth goes to unlock the backdoor for him and let him out into the yard.

The kitchen is her favorite room in the entire house – painted turquoise and white with plenty of room for her to bake. It's small, yes, compared to most kitchens in houses nowadays, but she still has plenty of room to bake and it's so much bigger than the tiny apartment kitchen she used to bake in.

When she and Daryl decided to was time to move from the apartment, they sat down and did their research, looking for a house in their town that would fit their budget. They weren't about to go house-broke, buying a house they could barely afford just so they could have some big house and way too much space they didn't need. The house they settled on is small but they pay in mortgage as much as they had paid in their rent and that's one of the reasons it's perfect. And Beth has always dreamed of living in a little house like this when she was older. She loves the farm and the old farmhouse but the house is huge – especially now that it's just her parents living there – and Beth can't imagining her family living in a monstrosity like that.

This small house is absolutely perfect. Three bedrooms upstairs with a bathroom and linen closet and down on the first floor, a living room, dining room and kitchen that all flow into one another and a tiny bathroom beneath the stairs. There's a basement and a laundry room and she's so thankful she doesn't have to save her quarters anymore and they have an attached garage that Daryl spends hours in – working on cars or one of his projects – and the backyard is fenced so Otter has the run of it and Matty has plenty of room to run around. It's perfect and meets all of their needs and size doesn't matter.

Holding Ophelia strongly in one arm, she takes out the can of coffee grounds and begins brewing a pot, and then taking a bottle of the breast-milk she had pumped the night before from the refrigerator, she begins warming it up over the stove.

"You and me are going to have a fun day today, baby girl," Beth says with her lips to Ophelia's baby-fine dark hair. "We have grocery shopping and then we have to go to the bank and then we have to go buy something for your Aunt Maggie's birthday. Maybe we'll go to the department store. Your daddy has a card and he always seems to find the best stuff for presents there."

"Damn card's been nothin' but a scam since I got it."

Beth turns and sees Daryl shuffle into the kitchen, looking as if he's still half asleep. She smiles and takes the bottle from the stove. "Good morning," she goes to him and standing on her toes, she gives him a kiss on his cheek, and he turns, kissing her temple and then kissing the top of Ophelia's head.

Taking Ophelia and the bottle, Beth heads to the table and on her way, she opens the back door so Otter can come back inside. She settles down at the table and situates Ophelia in her arms, the baby taking the bottle's nipple as soon as it's to her lips. Beth smiles as Ophelia blinks up at her, suckling the milk.

Daryl comes to the table with two mugs of coffee and he sits down in the chair next to her. He rests his head in his hand and closes his eyes as he lets out a yawn.

"What are you doing up?" Beth asks him quietly with a smile and she brings her cup of coffee to her lips, taking a small sip.

He keeps his eyes closed as he answers, fighting back another yawn. "Wanted to get in early this mornin'. I get in early, I get to leave early."

"I don't know how much use you'll be to the garage and the other guys if you're falling asleep where you stand," Beth teases him lightly.

"'m fine," he says but even as he says it, there's another yawn, and Beth smiles, looking back down to Ophelia. "You gonna be at practice later this afternoon?"

"Yep," Beth looks to him again and he's practically asleep once again, his eyes closed and his head resting heavily in his hand. "Will you be?" She asks.

He doesn't answer for a few moments and Beth purses her lips together to keep from laughing. He has fallen back asleep right there at the table. Beth sips at her coffee and when Ophelia finishes her bottle, Beth stands up, grabbing a dishtowel and tossing it over her shoulder before she begins patting the baby's back lightly, burping her.

Ophelia burps and Beth kisses her head. "Be quiet for daddy, Ophelia," she instructs the baby and sets the baby down in the bouncy activity seat they have set up for her on the floor. Glenn had bought it for her and every time he comes over, he sits on the floor with her and seems to enjoy the different jungle animals and the sounds they make more than Ophelia does.

Just as Beth has finished placing the cinnamon rolls in the round cake pan to slip into the heated oven, she turns her head when she hears feet on the footstep and Matty comes down, his book-bag in one hand and his practice football pads in the other, banging his thigh. Otter lifts his head and wags his tail but goes back to eating his breakfast of dry kibble.

"Good morning," Beth whispers to him with a smile and puts a finger to her lips.

When Matty sees Daryl at the kitchen table, sitting up and fast asleep, he is about to burst out laughing before he catches himself. He goes into the living room to drop off his things and then comes back into the kitchen. First, he goes to Ophelia and bends down, kissing her on the head, and the baby already always has a smile for her older brother, which she gives to him now, and then he goes to get a glass from the cabinet.

Matty looks like her – a fact which she is always thankful for because it was hard enough being so young and raising him on her own without having to look into Jimmy's face every day. And Ophelia features will develop more as she grows past the newborn age but Beth knows that she will grow to look like her daddy. Matty has her blonde hair and Ophelia's hair is already dark like Daryl's.

"I'm going to the grocery store this morning," Beth says to him, still whispering. "Do you want anything special?"

"Handi-Snacks," Matty answers in a matching whisper as he gets the jug of orange juice from the shelf in the refrigerator door and Beth smiles at her son's addiction, watching the timer on the oven so she can turn it off before it beeps and wakes up Daryl.

She still can hardly believe how stubborn that man is sometimes. He could be upstairs, sleeping peacefully in their bed while she and their son didn't have to whisper one another like two spies trying to hide but nope. He wanted to get up long before he actually had to and fall asleep at the kitchen table – the busiest room in the mornings.

As soon as the time gets down to one second, Beth is quick to turn the oven off and then pull the pan of cinnamon rolls out, setting them down on the counter and taking the pack of icing, dripping it over the rolls. When Matty comes up to her side and begins to reach for one, she gently takes his hand and pulls it away.

"Let them cool for a second, Matty," she whispers and Matty sighs as if that's the hardest thing that's ever been expected of him.

Three things happened at once then. Ophelia drops one of her toys – a giraffe rattle – and it falls onto the floor with a clatter and within seconds, the baby began to cry. The doorbell suddenly rings. And Otter begins barking, running towards the front door.

Daryl's head jerks and his hand falls away. "Wha'?" He asks, bolting up straight in his chair, confused and disoriented for a moment but then looking wide awake.

Matty goes to pick up the rattle and he lifts Ophelia from her chair, bouncing her slightly to try and get her to stop crying, and Beth wipes her hands on a dishtowel before going from the kitchen to the front door to see who is there that early in the morning. Otter is standing on his hind legs, his front paws against the side window glass and he's barking still but his tail is wagging and Beth puts her fingers around his collar, gently pulling him back. Daryl appears beside her – he doesn't like her going to answer the front door on her own – and he peeks through the peephole before turning the locks and opening the door to reveal Shane Walsh, dressed in his Deputy's uniform and his marked Sheriff car parked in the driveway.

"Fresh blueberries, as requested," he gives them both a grin and is holding three plastic containers in his arms.

Beth lets go of Otter's collar and takes the containers from him as the dog instantly bounces up to greet Shane and Shane grins, rubbing the dog behind his ears.

"You are the best. Thank you, Shane. And thank Amy, too," Beth smiles, looking down at the freshly-picked berries in her arms.

She and Daryl had just planted their own blueberry bushes in their backyard but it would be some time before they started producing berries. Shane and Amy, newly married, had recently moved into a house with their very own matured blueberry patch taking up most of the backyard and had begun giving pounds of them to Beth, who used them in all sorts of her baking.

"We didn't request them at six o'clock in the mornin' though," Daryl frowns grumpily at his close friend before turning and heading back towards the kitchen.

Beth smiles and rolls her eyes at Shane. "I told him to go back to bed for a little bit," is all she says and Shane grins. It seems like everyone in town knows that Daryl is trying to get his body clock adjusted to a newborn. "Do you have time for a cup of coffee?"

"You just make sure your husband knows that if I stay, killin' me isn't an option for him while I'm wearin' the uniform," Shane grins and comes into the house, closing the front door behind him and following Beth into the kitchen. "Hey, Matty," he greets the boy, who's now sitting at the table with a plate of two cinnamon rolls in front of him and his fingers sticky with icing. "You ready for your game tomorrow?" He asks.

Daryl is sitting back in his seat at the table with Ophelia in his arms, the baby's cries having quieted down and she's sucking on her pacifier, her eyes drooping sleepily.

"Yep," Matty nods and answers with his mouth full. "The Warriors have a killer offense though."

"Maybe, but they don't have one thing. They don't have you," Shane smiles at him as Beth comes to set a cup of coffee and a cinnamon roll down in front of him and Matty grins at that. "Thanks, Beth. You think you could give Amy some cookin' lessons or somethin'? I love that girl but I'm startin' to lose weight since I married her."

"She can't be that bad," Beth says as she takes the cup from in front of Daryl, which is still filled with now-cold coffee and sets a fresh cup down in front of him.

"She's pretty bad," Shane says as Beth sits in the chair between Daryl and Matty. "I had to teach her how to make spaghetti last night. Boil water and open a box. Don't know what the hell she lived on before," he said.

Daryl is quiet as Beth and Shane continue talking cooking and then talk shifts to football as it usually eventually does. He looks down at Ophelia in his arms, almost completely asleep now, and he feels like joining her. He didn't think it'd be this hard to get himself used to her. He loves her more than anything in this world; didn't even know feeling this much love for just one thing was possible. But he's pretty sure she's trying to slowly kill him and he feel like he should tell her to stop it because he's her dad and she only gets one of them and she can't go killing him.

He wouldn't think it was a big deal. She wakes them up around the same time every night. Usually around two o'clock for milk and a clean diaper and Beth says she's easy because Matty would wake her up at least twice after not going to sleep until sometimes after ten. Beth was a walking zombie for the first couple years of Matty's life. So, compared to him, Ophelia is easy but not getting a full night's sleep is beginning to take a toll on him. He goes to bed each night and he feels as if he doesn't completely ever fall asleep because he knows Ophelia will wake him up in a few hours.

And he wants to ask Beth how the hell she's able to function like a human being.

He's zoned out of it because when he hears scraping of chairs on the floor, he snaps himself out of it and sees that the others are standing up. Beth is taking the dishes to the sink and Matty is following her to wash his hands.

"I'm gonna drive Matty to school so you don't have to worry about it," Shane tells him.

And normally, Daryl would shake his head and refuse the offer because he usually drives Matty to school on his way to the garage but Matty has to get in early today because the Bulldogs are having two-a-days now with the league's championship coming up. Practice before school and practice after. And Daryl's still wearing his sweatpants and tee-shirt he wore to bed.

"Thanks, man," Daryl says and has the urge to yawn again but he's able to swallow it down and Shane claps him on the shoulder as he walks past him.

"Take it easy on your daddy, Ophelia," Shane smiles down at the baby in his arms. "He's an old man."

And Daryl finds himself too tired to even tell him to shut up.

With his shoes on now and book-bag on his back, Matty comes back into the kitchen from the living room and goes to Daryl and Ophelia. "Bye, dad. Bye, Ollie," he says, his nickname for Ophelia. He leans down and kisses Ophelia on the head and Daryl shifts her to one arm so he can wrap the other around Matty in a quick hug.

"Be good today," he tells him and Matty nods.

Beth leaves the kitchen and Daryl can hear her at the front door, hugging and kissing Matty good-bye and thanking Shane again for the blueberries and taking him to school. Daryl gets up to let Otter out once more in the backyard and then taking his cup of coffee – now lukewarm – he carries Ophelia back upstairs. Setting the cup down, he then leans over the side of the crib in the nursery and sets her gently down, watching as she doesn't even stir from her nap and he covers her with her blanket. At least one of them is able to get some sleep.

He leaves the nursery and goes into his and Beth's bedroom. In the fall, Beth likes to sleep with a few of the windows open and he can feel the cool breeze, rustling their white window curtains, and he hears the birds chirping their morning songs as he sits down on the edge of the unmade bed and sips at the black coffee. Beth's right. There's no point to him going into the garage early when he's like this. He's no good to anyone when he's shuffling around like a damn zombie.

Daryl finishes the coffee in a few gulps, knowing that he'll have to have at least two more cups when he gets to the garage later that morning and he looks at the clock. He can either go and take a shower and get himself to the garage early where he'll probably fall asleep in his bay. Or he can get forty more minutes of sleep and get to the garage at eight, which is his normal start time.

And just thinking about forty more minutes of sleep, he yawns and his mind is made up. He makes sure his alarm is still set and with that, he lays down and closes his eyes, drifting off within seconds.

His alarm goes off in what feels like seconds later and his eyes snap open as he reaches a hand out, slapping the blaring sound off. He turns his head and sees that Beth is now in bed beside him, lying on her side towards him, and Ophelia is lying on her stomach between them, awake and sucking her pacifier quietly. She is running a hand up and down Ophelia's back and smiling and when she lifts her eyes to look at Daryl, her smile stays in place.

"She's perfect, isn't she?" She asks.

Daryl's own lips move upwards in a little smile and he rolls onto his side towards them. He bends an elbow and props his head up in his hand, looking at both wife and daughter. "Yeah, she's a'right," he answers, joking, and Beth laughs softly. He watches as she leans down and presses her nose to the baby's hair, inhaling her.

"I think we should have another baby when she's a little older just so we can always have new baby smell," Beth says with a smile. "I can never get enough of that smell. I bet heaven smells just like new babies."

Daryl smiles a little at that. "How 'bout I get my body some rest 'fore you start demandin' another baby from me?"

Beth rolls her eyes. "I was hardly demanding," she says. "Do you think you'll want another one when we get this one out of diapers?"

He shrugs, his hand joining Beth's on Ophelia's back, feeling the small rise and fall with each breath she takes. It still amazes him – that he has a wife and kids and this house and that this little baby, he and Beth made her from nothing. Sometimes, he still wakes up and has no idea if any of this is real or not and it takes his brain a second to catch up and remind him that this is definitely real. All of this is his life. He wonders when he'll stop thinking anything else.

"Whatever happens, happens," he says. "If we wind up havin' another one, ain't gonna be like I'm gonna turn it away."

Beth laughs softly at that and then leans down, her nose to Ophelia's dark hair again. She lifts her head and her eyes meet Daryl's and she reaches a hand out to his cheek.

"I promise. Before you know it, we'll start training her about day and night and you'll start getting sleep like a normal person again," she says.

"I ain't complain'," he reminds her and he doesn't. He's tired all the time, yeah, and he grumbles more but he doesn't complain. He has a baby daughter. What is there to complain about? He'll have plenty of time to sleep when she's in college.

"I know and I know it's not easy but soon, not getting sleep will be the norm," Beth says to him as if promising him.

He turns his head and kisses the inside of her wrist and then looks back to her. "How the hell are you survivin' this? I ain't the one who carried this one around for nine months. I would think if anyone would be complainin' 'bout sleep, it's you."

Beth just shrugs and smiles and her hand falls from his cheek to brush back some of Ophelia's hair. It looks like she's starting to drift off into another nap. "Coffee," Beth answers him. "Lots and lots of coffee. And when that wears off, I'll be collapsing down in this bed right next to you."

Daryl smirks a little at that. "Pretty sure that's what happened last time and we wound up gettin' this one."

…

* * *

 **Thank you very much for reading and please take a moment to review!**


End file.
